WHO's Warning: 'Disease X' Looms, Future Pandemic Could Outstrip COVID By 20 Times

The urgent need for global preparedness against a potential new pandemic, referred to as 'Disease X', was emphasized by the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Sunday.

A 'pandemic treaty' to tackle the deadly Disease X, which could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19, was urged to be signed by WHO's Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. This was reported by Fox News.

WHO Alerts on Disease X

In front of an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it was stated by Ghebreyesus that he hoped a pandemic agreement would be reached by countries by May to address this "common enemy."

"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. 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?" he added.

It was further mentioned that measures to prepare for another outbreak, including the establishment of a pandemic fund and the creation of a ''technology transfer hub'' in South Africa, have already been started by the WHO.

''Equity. It was a serious problem. Many high-income countries were hoarding vaccines. To address the equity problem, the mRNA technology transfer hub was established in South Africa. This is to increase local production...," he explained.

What is Disease X?

Disease X is not a specific disease but rather the name of a potential virus similar to COVID-19. It could be a new agent, a virus, a bacterium, or a fungus without any known treatment. The unknown disease has been categorized by the global health body among Covid-19, Ebola, Lassa fever, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Nipah, and Zika, all of which have caused widespread fatalities during outbreaks.

The term was formally started to be used by the WHO in 2018, representing the next unknown disease of epidemic potential, as mentioned by The Lancet.

In a report from November 2022, it is mentioned by the WHO that Disease X is included to indicate an unknown pathogen that could cause a serious international epidemic. According to the WHO, the number of potential pathogens worldwide is very large, while the resources for disease research and development (R&D) are limited.