The world has shifted to the post-pandemic era because the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the top of COVID-19 as a public health emergency earlier this month. Nonetheless, experts worry that a more disturbing outbreak could occur next.

Scientists have recently expressed concern over a phenomenon called “Disease X.” The term is alleged to be a placeholder the WHO used to explain a disease that is unknown to the medical community but could cause human infections, the Recent York Post reported.

After Ebola, SARS and COVID-19, experts anticipate that Disease X could lead on to the worst pandemic ever. Considering that it would be a recent illness, there is no such thing as a sure strategy to anticipate its causative agent. Hence, it could possibly be a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, or other particles. What’s worse is there won’t be treatments available by the point it arrives.

“This is not the stuff of science fiction. It is a scenario now we have to organize for. That is Disease X,” the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations chief executive Dr. Richard Hatchett told the Telegraph last week.

“Epidemic disease is a worldwide threat that requires collective motion. We cannot prevent recent pathogens from emerging but together we are able to prevent the devastation they cause. Because if we all know one thing, it’s that Disease X, when it strikes, won’t respect borders,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Pranab Chatterjee, a researcher on the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said Disease X could arrive ahead of expected.

“Disease X event just across the corner. The recent spate of H5N1 bird flu cases in Cambodia is only a living proof,” Chatterjee told the National Post.

Like COVID-19 and other previous outbreaks, Disease X, which was coined by the WHO in 2018, could come from animals. Public health experts consider a spillover could cause a zoonotic outbreak, which could lead on to a different pandemic.

If not zoonotic, bioterrorism could possibly be the place to begin of the following pandemic. An engineered pathogen is feasible amid conflicts. A 2021 report published within the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology mentioned how this might occur.

“While emerging zoonotic pathogens are a threat that should be monitored, the opportunity of an engineered pandemic pathogen also can’t be ignored. The discharge of such pathogens, either through laboratory accidents or as an act of bioterrorism, might result in a disastrous Disease X as well and has been remarked as a worldwide catastrophic risk,” the report said.

In response to this threat, medical examiners worldwide have been asking for a rise in funds to support their global efforts in monitoring potential pandemic agents.

Published by Medicaldaily.com