Disease X: Scientists warn next pandemic could be triggered by virus of ‘deadly infectious illness’

Flu May Trigger Next Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that seasonal flu is not just a winter nuisance. Each year, influenza affects approximately one billion people worldwide, and millions more suffer serious complications. Worse still, it causes hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. The WHO highlights the dangers of new strains of flu, to which people have no immunity, and urges us to take the flu seriously.

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Research by Jon Salmanton-García of the University of Cologne confirms this concern. His research indicates that influenza poses the greatest threat to the coming global pandemic due to its continued evolution and mutating properties. “Every time winter flu appears, we could call these epidemics small pandemics. They are more or less controlled because the different strains that cause them are not virulent enough – but this will not necessarily be the case forever. » he declared as quoted by the Guardian.

Scientists warn of disease

The results of the survey will be announced at the ESCMID congress next weekend. The unidentified “DiseaseX” virus is considered the second most likely virus to cause a pandemic, after the flu, according to experts. Experts believe that a new strain of this virus could appear “out of the blue”, just like Covid-19, which has claimed the lives of millions of people around the world and still remains a threat.

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These disturbing details follow concerns from the World Health Organization about the alarming spread of the H5N1 strain of influenza that is spreading rapidly in parts of the United States. The organization warned of an “unprecedented increase” in the number of cases.

“It appears to be 100 times worse than Covid, or it could be if it mutates and maintains its high case fatality rate. Once it mutates to infect humans, we can only hope that the (mortality rate) goes down. John Fulton, a pharmaceutical company consultant, said earlier in a statement.

According to WHO data, the data highlights that since 2003, 52 out of 100 patients infected with the H5N1 virus have died, resulting in a mortality rate above 50 percent. This rate is comparatively much higher than the current COVID-19 mortality rate, which stands at 0.1 percent.