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In 2018, the World Health Organization entered disease X on the list of the greatest global threats. According to WHO expert Dr. Marion Koopmans, this disease may be COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus. The first case of the coronavirus in Poland was confirmed by the Minister of Health on March 4, 2020.
- “Coronavirus fits the first real pandemic challenge of disease X,” wrote WHO Dr. Marion Koopmans
- Disease X may take an even greater toll than the Spanish woman who swept the world more than 100 years ago, scientists predict
- The virus detected late last year in Chinese Wuhan is becoming more and more dangerous in Europe
What is disease X?
Disease X is the name given by scientists to a medical condition caused by a mysterious pathogen that was supposed to appear and spread around the world. Is this disease COVID-19, and the virus announced by researchers is SARS-CoV-2, which has already infected over 156. and killed 5,8 thousand people? There are voices that it is possible because three months have passed since its detection, and – as the example of Italy shows – the infectious potential of the coronavirus is not weakening at all.
Dr. Marion Koopmans, virologist of the World Health Organization (WHO), in the medical journal Cell wrote:
Whether the epidemic is brought under control or not, the coronavirus fits the first real pandemic challenge of disease X, on the WHO’s list of priority diseases for which we must prepare in our current globalized society.
The new coronavirus emerged six months after the WHO warned that if there were a new flu-like disease outbreak, it could kill up to 80 million people. Scientists’ concerns, expressed since 2018, when disease X was included in the list of the greatest global threats, are described in the “A World At Risk” report. This report was prepared by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), a panel of health experts convened by the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
Also read: Pandemic – what does it mean?
The world in the face of a pandemic
According to GPMB, we are waiting a catastrophe comparable to the Spanish epidemic, that is, the flu that decimated humanity in 1918. An infection similar to the seasonal flu then claimed more than 50 million victims, which is three times more than the First World War. The Spanish epidemic hit 1/3 of the population.
The authors of the “A World of Risk” report say that we are not prepared for the disease of Xand the situation is aggravated by the fact that governments continue to ignore WHO recommendations. A pandemic could lead not only to the deaths of millions of people, but also to an economic crisis. There is a very high probability that it would shake global markets and destroy about 5 percent. world economy. Health systems, especially in poor countries, could collapse as a result of a pandemic.
WHO still has SARS and MERS, close cousins of the COVID-19 virus under its scrutiny. The list of priorities of the World Health Organization also includes other infectious diseases, such as Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Rift and Zika valley fever, Ebola, Lassa fever, Nipah virus.
See also: Coronavirus is not the first. The biggest epidemics in recent years
The new type of coronavirus that people started contracting in late December last year has now reached most places in the world. The pathogen probably comes from wild animals sold illegally in China.
The virus crosses borders along with travelers who are constantly on the move around the world. Since 2003, the frequency of air travel on a global scale has increased more than tenfold. This is why the epidemic is so hard to stop.
“The window of opportunity is narrowing and we must act quickly before it closes completely,” warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General on February 21.
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