WhatsNew2Day – Latest News And Breaking Headlines
The planet should be ready for a disease even deadlier than Covid, the head of the World Health Organization has warned.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the World Health Assembly that the threat of another public health crisis could not be ruled out “down the road”.
He also claimed that although the darkest days of the pandemic are consigned to history, an apocalyptic variant of Covid with the power to send the world back to square one could still emerge.
Speaking yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr Tedros added: “The threat of another emerging variant that is causing further outbreaks of disease and death remains.”
“And the threat of another emerging pathogen with even deadlier potential remains.”
Although Covid is no longer a global health emergency, the global health threat is not over, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (pictured) told the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday.
In 2018, the WHO identified nine priority (listed) diseases that pose the greatest risk to public health. They were deemed most at risk due to a lack of treatments or their ability to cause a pandemic
He was speaking as the WHO unveiled a new global program to spot and track the most dangerous pathogens at an annual meeting of its 194 member states.
No specific infectious threat was mentioned. However, ‘disease X’ – a placeholder given to a devastating yet undiscovered pathogen – is on the UN agency’s list of urgent threats.
Dr Tedros’ comments come after the WHO declared earlier this month that Covid was no longer a public health emergency of international concern.
Instead, the virus is now considered an “established and permanent health problem”.
It marked a major milestone and came three years after a group of Chinese residents in the city of Wuhan were stricken with a mysterious illness in December 2019.
At the 76th meeting of the WHA, WHO launched the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN). It will give all nations access to genomic sequencing to identify and respond to emerging disease threats using genomics.
Genomics – the study of the genetic material found in a virus – helps scientists spot mutations that can make a pathogen more infectious or deadly.
Scientists can then develop treatments and vaccines that work against them, while nations can mount a rapid response.
The IPSN will see researchers, governments, charitable foundations and the private sector working together to monitor bugs.
Dr Tedros said: ‘We can’t throw this box on the road.
“When the next pandemic comes knocking – and it will – we must be ready to respond decisively, collectively and fairly.”
The WHO has previously identified nine priority diseases that pose the greatest risk to public health. They were deemed most at risk due to a lack of treatments or their ability to cause a pandemic.
Covid is on the list, along with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne disease that kills 30% of people it hospitalizes.
Ebola, which kills about half of the people it infects, is another mentioned. It causes vomiting, diarrhea, rash, yellowing of the skin and eyes, and bleeding from several orifices, including the eyes, ears, and mouth.
Marburg, one of the deadliest pathogens ever discovered, with an 88% case fatality rate, is also a threat. It causes symptoms similar to Ebola.
Lassa fever, mild or asymptomatic in 80% of cases, kills about 1 to 3% of people it infects. It is endemic in parts of West Africa, but only 11 cases and one death have been recorded in the UK.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) are also on the WHO pandemic watch list.
This graphic, from March 2020, showed the Covid pandemic in a visual timeline comparing it to the deadliest pandemics in history. It shows that the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, was the deadliest of all diseases, killing an estimated 200 million people in the 14th century. However, Covid is shown as killing 6,400 people at this point. WHO estimates it has now killed 20 million people
MERS, which causes fever and cough, which can progress to pneumonia and breathing difficulties, was first spotted in the Middle East in 2012. It kills around 35% of people it infects.
SARS, first identified in China in 2003, was the first serious new infectious disease this century, with a case fatality rate of 3%.
The Nipah virus, first spotted in humans in 1998, causes a flu-like illness that can progress to breathing difficulties. It kills about three quarters of people with confirmed infections.
The WHO is also concerned about Rift Valley fever, transmitted by infected animals and usually spotted in sub-Saharan Africa. It kills about one percent of those infected.
Zika virus, another pathogen of concern, is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes and is generally mild. Severe cases are rare, but it can lead to complications for the pregnant woman and babies.
The UN health agency also warned of ‘disease X’, reflecting that the next pandemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.
WHO officials are currently working on an updated list.
Prepare for a disease even deadlier than Covid, WHO chief warns