Preparing for the Worst: How Disease X Could Be 20 Times More Deadly Than COVID-19

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Academic and healthcare gurus are analyzing what is termed “Disease X.” Disease X is a new coronavirus family known to infect people and may potentially kill more people than the coronaviruses. It could be a virus, fungus, or bacteria that we never encountered, being the infected one, as it happens in today’s world. Several specialists say it could be twenty times as lethal as COVID-19.

According to the blog “Preparing for the Worst: How Disease X Could Be 20 Times More Deadly Than COVID-19,” people must know and create the most effective approaches and prepare for other diseases that might be Disease X. waiting for us to prevent people from getting infected.

Understanding Disease X

The World Health Organisation has labeled a germ as Disease X, which is presumed to emerge in the future with catastrophic epidemics. This germ could be utterly unknown to people, meaning it could be a genus like virus, bacteria, or fungus that has never come to the surface before. Priorities for competent health authorities were deemed related to Disease X in 2018 by the World Health Organization. Their motive is preparedness for any new disease threats. Watching the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars have learned that recently emerged infections can be disseminated rapidly; therefore, plans to mitigate the risk to the health of populations should be in place.

Potential Characteristics of Disease X

Any novel illness believed to be alien to humans and transmitted by animals is dubbed “Disease X.” Because it can spread from animals to people, it is also regarded as a zoonotic disease. Other well-known zoonoses include Ebola and SARS-CoV-2, which are viral diseases of wildlife reservoirs that circulate between animals. There are many vehicle RNA viruses in animals that may lead to the following Disease X. RNA viruses are prone to mutations and thus hop on new hosts very quickly. This is why there have been limitations to their growth; therefore, scientists have turned to them for the latest trends.

The Risks of Disease X

Some experts consider a new ailment invisible to the current technology named “Disease X” to be extremely dangerous. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed this term to imagine hypothetically an unknown future virus. A thing that should be noted is that this virus could be worse than Covid-19 and might lead to a more significant number of deaths. For instance, the Spanish flu claimed approximately 50 million worldwide residents. Because there is more traveling and the geographical spread of human occupancy, the chances of a new disease breaking out could be swifter, creating more damage. The WHO feels we must prepare for this challenge to save people’s lives.

Factors Contributing to Severity

Numerous previously unknown diseases and viruses exist worldwide, mostly in non-human animals and often when people expand into their natural habitats. That’s when new germs have a chance to leap over into humans. Such diseases are fascinating and terrifying at the same time because they’re germ diseases.

The transmission rate of such germs is alarmingly fast, and they can infect a large population even before a single positive case is identified. For this reason, control measures must be implemented as soon as possible to prevent spread.

New germs become pathogens of the general population when the population has no prior exposure to the germ. This scenario dramatically increases the chance of the pathogenic germ spreading further and faster within the general population.

Finally, with globalization and the international movement of individuals, diseases can quickly spread to various continents. Simply put, the spread of one infection from one region can be found in a new area in a couple of weeks.

Preparing for Disease X

New infectious disease threats are not an ideal scenario. This event should be anticipated based on public health experts. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is one organization that produces novel concepts to address such diseases. Once they correctly pinpoint a new type, they have three months–or less–to develop a vaccine. This is important because having a vaccine available will stop the narrative of the disease being out of control. While waiting for treatment may not be optimal, it appears to be the most effective measure in averting widespread outbreaks.

Key Strategies for Preparedness

Countless viral pandemics have struck humans, such as the most recent COVID-19 outbreak. Hence, we should focus on preventing any future pandemic to maintain global health. Here are some measures we can take:

  • Enhanced Surveillance: To prevent future pandemics, we will need appropriate surveillance systems that search for diseases at the ‘one health’ level, including humans and animals.
  • Vaccine Development: Investing in vaccine development for new pathogens is essential. This approach allows us to prepare for potential outbreaks.
  • Sharing Information: First and foremost, countries must share their details and resources. Global solidarity would allow us to better tackle pandemics.
  • Infrastructure Feeding: Several healthcare institutions must be strengthened to manage a greater number of cases whenever outbreaks occur. This will ensure the health of the population during times of crisis.

Conclusion

Diseases X are no joke, and we need to prepare for them. We all know what happened when a pandemic caught the world off guard. There are lessons to be learned and knowledge to be built upon to ensure this does not happen again. Besides the apparent lessons, investing in research into infectious diseases and surveillance systems and building resilient networks with different countries is a good idea. The next pandemic is not an if but a when. Preparations must be made long before the next one. We must take decisive action now to prepare for the imminent threat of Disease X worldwide.

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