World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus is urging countries to join a global pandemic treaty to prepare for a potential threat known as “Disease X”, Fox News reported.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Ghebreyesus expressed his hope for nations to agree on the treaty by May to collectively tackle this potential new health threat.
Disease X is a theoretical virus that hasn’t emerged yet, but experts believe it could be 20 times more deadly than COVID-19. It was identified by the WHO’s research as a “serious international epidemic,” according to a 2022 WHO press release.
In 2022, the WHO gathered a team of over 300 scientists to examine 25 families of viruses and bacteria, according to Axios.com. Their objective was to compile a list of priority pathogens that warrant additional research efforts.
Ghebreyesus emphasized that COVID-19 served as the initial instance of Disease X. However, he stressed the importance of being ready for another potential pandemic.
“There are things that are unknown that may happen, and anything happening is a matter of when, not if, so we need to have a placeholder for that, for the diseases we don’t know,” Ghebreyesus said.
“We lost many people [during COVID] because we couldn’t manage them,” Ghebreyesus said at the global confab. “They could have been saved, but there was no space. There was not enough oxygen. So how can you have a system that can expand when the need comes?”
Ghebreyesus shared that independent panels and experts are collaboratively devising collective responses, with a May deadline set for signing the treaty.
Preparedness measures may encompass an early-warning system, streamlined supply chains, and accelerated research and development for drug testing. Recognizing the importance of primary health care, especially as wealthier countries faced challenges during COVID-19, addressing fundamental aspects like contact tracing is crucial.
Although the origin and timing of Disease X remain uncertain, some experts have put forth theories.
According to Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Disease X is anticipated to be a respiratory virus. Adalja suggested that the virus might already be present in animals but has not yet been transmitted to humans.
