World leaders gathering for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland this week will discuss concerns about the possibility of a future pandemic, which has caused 20 times more deaths than Covid-19. can become
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease’s fictitious name is ‘X’, a term being used to plan for a future fictitious international pandemic, which is a pathogen (disease-causing microbe). ) is caused by
The WEF said a panel led by WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a session titled ‘Preparing to fight disease’ discussed the ‘necessary to prepare health systems for the many challenges of the future’. will talk about ‘efforts’.
WHO has designated disease ‘X’ as a priority disease along with Covid-19, Ebola virus, Zika virus, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). .
Disease X was added to the list in 2018, when the WHO tried to start discussions on how to deal with future global pandemics.
WHO prioritizes research and development in the emergency context for all these diseases, saying that the Blueprint ‘clearly calls for advanced research and development (R&D) to be in place in advance, related to an unknown The disease is also from X.’
Earlier, WHO said in a statement that ‘the number of potential pathogens worldwide is high while resources for disease R&D are limited.’
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In the session held last Wednesday, Dr. Tedros included Brazilian Health Minister Nicia Trendde Lima, Chairman of the Board of Pharmaceutical Company AstraZeneca Michael Demarre, CEO of Royal Philips Roy Jacobs and Executive Vice Chair of Indian Hospital Chain Apollo Preetha Reddy. Will participate.
It should be noted that scientists still do not know what type of virus may cause the next epidemic or in other words what this disease ‘X’ will be.
Many people believe it could be a coronavirus, such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes illness with Covid-19, or a new strain of influenza.
According to Dr. Thomas Russo, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences: ‘That concept (of Disease X) was one of the lessons we learned from this (Covid) pandemic.’
He said: ‘As humans are breaking down barriers (between humans and other species) through live animal markets and deforestation, we need continued monitoring, studies and better biosecurity around the world.’
He warned that disease ‘X’ could be a completely new bacterium which is not yet known even in animals.
Preparing for the next pandemic and working to prevent national health infrastructure from failing, as seen in many countries in 2020, has now become a key objective for WHO.
A vaccine for a new virus with pandemic potential could be developed in 100 days, British scientists have said.
In August last year, researchers at the University of Oxford announced that they were examining how a vaccine developed for Covid-19 could be used against Disease X. They will also examine how other vaccines can be developed to thwart future threats.
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2024-05-07 23:47:10
