Beware of mysterious and deadly Disease X, says WHO

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has put scientists and health workers around the globe on alert for a new and potentially deadly pathogen – Disease X.

Each year the Geneva-based organisation, charged with monitoring and safeguarding world health, convenes a high-level meeting of senior scientists to list diseases that pose a serious risk of prompting a major international public health emergency.

In previous years the list has been confined to known killers such as Ebola, which killed more than 11,000 people in an epidemic in west Africa between 2013 and 2016.

A mystery pathogen has been added to the watch list for the first time. “Disease X represents the knowledge a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease,” said the WHO.

“History tells us it is likely the next big outbreak will be something we have not seen before,” said John-Arne Rottingen, chief executive of the Research Council of Norway. (© Daily Telegraph, London)