“Disease X”: Everything you need to know about this imaginary epidemic WHO fears

According to the WHO, a pathology called “Disease X” could potentially infect humans in the coming years.

While some see it as the work of an international conspiracy, health professionals appear to be taking the threat seriously.

This enigmatic disease was discussed during the last World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in early January.

While SARS-CoV-2, first detected in China in late 2019, still poses a threat to global public health, we are not immune to new global pandemics. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that “Between 631,000 and 827,000 viruses are currently capable of infecting humans.“. Among them, what we now nickname “Disease X” may one day bring humanity to its knees. The latter was mentioned publicly for the first time last January during a round table organized during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Appointment “Preparing for ‘Disease X’“, this discussion has created a wave of panic and paranoia on social networks, although in reality there is no cause for concern yet.

• Also read

  “Disease X”: What is this fictional virus that infuriates conspiracy theorists?

A fictional disease that makes a lot of noise

Rest assured immediately, it would be difficult for “Disease X” to infect anyone, because currently, it does not exist. Nor is it the result of laboratory experiments to better control the world’s population, as some claim on social networks. Its name should alert us: in mathematics, the letter “X” usually designates an unknown quantity. If we listen carefully to the speeches of the various speakers at this roundtable, “Disease X” is in fact a working hypothesis, a hypothetical epidemic that the WHO has been working on since 2018.The X in ‘Disease X’ represents everything we don’t know. This is a new disease that we will know little about when it appears: it may or may not be deadly, highly contagious, and a threat to our way of life.“, we read on the website of the United Nations.

In addition to the disproportionate reactions provoked by this expression on social networks, the UN Agency for Public Health aims to work towards better prevention and preparation for future epidemics after the catastrophic crisis of COVID-19. “We also do not know when and how it will cross the viral barrier and infect the population. On the other hand, we know that the next disease X will appear and we must be prepared

“, published in 2021, supports the same article written by Richard Hatchett, executive director of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

Pathogen “20 times more deadly than Covid-19”

Again for WHO, diseaseRepresents knowledge that a serious international pandemic may be caused by a pathogen that currently causes human disease“. Today, the threat is even more serious because the new type of SARS CoV-2 virus, JN.1, is increasing cases and digestive disorders in France and around the world. Its part for “Disease X”, in the restricted list of nine diseases and pathogens. joins which may cause “A serious international epidemic“, which also includes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever and Ebola virus disease. If disease X is still only a hypothesis, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus and the head of the WHO still fear that ‘it may be ‘Twenty times more deadly than COVID-19”

To help deploy a common health and economic response to these potential threats, the Director-General still hopes that the 194 UN member states will rally behind an international agreement to better deal with future pandemics. “Pandemic agreement can bring together all the experiences, the challenges we have faced and all the solutions

“, he declared during the annual economic meeting in Geneva. He clarified that the latter could include an early warning system, the organization of the supply chain and the progress of research and development for the testing of vaccines. For the moment, this project is still being negotiated. , but Time is running out: The deadline for signature is set for next May.