DISEASE X': THE MYSTERY MALADY THAT COULD ONE DAY KILL MILLIONS
3/11/18 AT 6:36 AM
A new global
threat dubbed "Disease X" has been added to the World
Health Organization's (WHO) list of maladies that could cause a worldwide
epidemic-even though it doesn't actually exist yet.
The mysterious
malady is meant to represent a "known unknown" that could be
created by biological mutation in the future, WHO said on its website.
The disease joined a list that includes the
Ebola virus, Respiratory Syndrome (SARS,) Zika virus and Rift Valley fever
(RVF), after an annual review by WHO.
WORLD HEALTH
ORGANIZATION
"Disease X represents the knowledge that a
serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown
to cause human disease," WHO said on its website.
The disease could come about a number of ways,
including as a result of biological warfare or as the result of the sudden
spread of a virus similar to the "Spanish flu" which affected
large parts of the world and is thought to have killed at least 40 million
people in 1918-1919.
The organization also considered adding a number of
other diseases to its list of global threats, including arenaviral hemorrhagic
fevers, Chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected
mosquitoes, and highly pathogenic coronaviral diseases.
"These diseases pose major public health risks
and further research and development is needed, including surveillance and diagnostics,"
WHO said. "They should be watched carefully and considered again at
the next annual review."
WHO's Research and Development (R&D)
Blueprint list seeks to identify diseases that pose a public health risk due to
their potential for sparking an epidemic and for which there are no, or
insufficient, countermeasures.
The organization initially released the list of
prioritized diseases in December 2015.
It added Disease X to the list after an annual review
carried out from Feb. 6-7, warning that there is an "urgent need" for
accelerated research and development for the maladies on the list.
http://www.newsweek.com/disease-x-deadly-mystery-malady-could-one-day-kill-millions-839759
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