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WHO warns of mystery killer Disease X

Staff Writer |
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has put scientists and health workers around the globe on alert for a new and potentially deadly pathogen called Disease X.

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Each year the Geneva-based organisation, which is charged with monitoring and safeguarding world health, convenes a high-level meeting of senior scientists to list diseases that pose a serious risk of prompting a major international public health emergency.

In previous years the list has been confined to known killers such as Lassa fever, which is sweeping Nigeria, and Ebola, and which killed more than 11,000 people in an epidemic in west Africa between 2013 and 2016.

However, this year a mystery pathogen has been added to the watch list for the first time. "Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease," said the WHO.

"History tells us that it is likely the next big outbreak will be something we have not seen before," said John-Arne Rottingen, chief executive of the Research Council of Norway and a scientific adviser to the WHO committee.

"It may seem strange to be adding an 'X' but the point is make sure we prepare and plan flexibly in terms of vaccines and diagnostic tests. We want to see 'plug and play' platforms developed which will work for any, or a wide number of diseases; systems that will allow us to create countermeasures at speed."

Advances in gene editing technology, which make the manipulation or creation of entirely new viruses possible, mean that Disease X could emerge through an accident or act of terror.

More likely, said Rottingen, Disease X could be sparked by a zoonotic disease - one that jumps from animals to humans - and then spreads to become an epidemic or pandemic in the same way H1N1 swine flu virus did in 2009.

The WHO hopes it will drive governments across the globe to invest in strengthening local health systems.


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