The next pandemic could take 50 million lives said Dame Kate Bingham, who chaired the UK's Vaccine Taskforce saying that it might already be on its way and that Covid-19 was not that lethal. The new pandemic has been dubbed Disease X by World Health Organisation (WHO) and Bingham says it could be 20 times deadlier than Coronavirus.
According to Bingham, while scientists have identified 25 virus families encompassing thousands of individual viruses, there are millions of other viruses yet to be discovered, reported the Daily Mail.
"While Covid-19 and its variants have impact in terms of recurring and familiar health issues, healthcare professionals are now preparing for a potential new pandemic called Disease X. Healthcare experts have issued a caution that this new virus can be as devastating as the Spanish Flu. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Disease X refers to pathogen - known/potentially unknown that can cause large scale, serious pandemic leading to mass scale human disease," says Dr Neha Rastogi, Consultant, infectious disease, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram.
What is Disease X?
"Disease X is possibly and plausibly caused by a 'pathogen X'. It could be related to zoonotic disease likely an RNA virus, emerging from an area where the epidemiological triad - environment host favours sustained transmission. These emerging/re-emerging z pathogens can be labelled as X and they are a threat which mandates intense and ongoing active surveillance and monitoring," says Dr Rastogi.