‘Disease X’ could strike soon as healthcare experts warn of next pandemic

WITH the monkeypox virus on the loose in countries around the globe and polio reported in the UK, health experts have warned of a “next pandemic”, with some predicting that ‘Disease X’ could strike the world very soon.

Health experts are warning that a new ‘disease X’ could strike the world very soon, with countries around the globe currently battling at least one ‘new’ virus.

Disease X, which was adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) back in February 2018, is used to describe a new virus that will potentially cause the “next pandemic” and is not the name of a specific virus.

Experts believe that the world is in a “pandemic era” and that with so many viruses loose “a perfect storm” for future pandemics has been created.

Outbreaks of monkeypox, polio and hepatitis have made headlines over the last few months, with Covid believed to be now part of our daily lives.

It is these diseases that have prompted a variety of health experts, and Bill Gates, to predict that a new pandemic is waiting to strike.

Recently, Dr Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor of President Joe Biden predicted that a “new pandemic” was on the horizon, even suggesting that a rise in the population, as well as climate change, could be part of the problem.

This point was reiterated by Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, who also said that disturbances caused by Covid-19 have not helped.

“There’s a name for what we’re seeing at the moment in the UK and elsewhere, it’s called chatter,” Prof Woolhouse told the Telegraph.

“It’s a term anti-terrorist [units] use to describe the small events that might signify something more major on the horizon… infectious diseases work in much the same way.”

He added: “The early 21st century has been a perfect storm for emerging infectious diseases, and everything is pointing towards the likelihood of more and more outbreaks.”

Back on Tuesday, January 18, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates warned the world that future pandemics would probably be far worse than Covid and encouraged governments to cough up some cash to prepare for further outbreaks.

Gates, as part of the Bill & Melania Gates Foundation, announced at the time that he had donated $150 million (€132,284 million) to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) – an organisation designed to continue the “fight against coronavirus as well as in preparation for potential pandemics in the future”.

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