Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, a scientist who discovered Ebola almost 40 years ago, warns of new and potentially deadly viruses that come from African rainforests. They can have a significant impact on our future in the coming years.
- A patient from the Democratic Republic of Congo suffered from a disease that is unknown to medicine. It was not possible to establish what she was suffering from
- Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum warns that more pandemics are possible
- Is the “disease X” that WHO warned about yet to come?
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Mysterious disease in the Congo
What prompted a reputable microbiologist to issue such a warning publicly? Patient zero with “disease X”. A woman with symptoms of hemorrhagic fever was brought to one of the hospitals in Ingende in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nobody discloses her identity to prevent her from being ostracized by the locals.
The test results ruled out the presence of the Ebola virus in her bodyas well as her children. Its samples were tested on site and sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research of the Congo in Kinshasa, where they were checked for other known diseases as well. All results turned out to be negative. And although the patient recovered, the lack of answers to the question of what she was ill with bothers microbiologists, especially nowadays.
«Disease X» still ahead of us?
Professor Tamfun emphasized that we must not forget that we live in a world in which new, pathogens that are dangerous to humanity. The mysterious disease is likely to spread as fast as COVID-19, he says, and will be on par with Ebola in terms of mortality.
According to the World Health Organization, “disease X” is a hypothetical epidemic for now, but with a black scenario for the future. In addition, it was entered by doctors on the list of priority diseases against which you should be vigilant.
- Find out more: Mysterious «disease X». Why is WHO so afraid of it?
Research by Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, shows that new virus species are discovered at a rate of three to four per year. Most of them come from animals. Experts agree that this growing number of new diseases is largely the result of ecology destruction and wildlife trade. Such a thesis has been put forward in the case of both the coronavirus and the Ebola virus.
As for the latter, scientists associate it with human incursion into rainforests. One 2017 study used satellite data and found that 25 of the 27 Ebola outbreaks located along the boundaries of the rainforest biome in central and western Africa between 2001 and 2014 began where deforestation had occurred two years earlier. In addition, zoonotic outbreaks of Ebola emerged in areas where the population density was high and where the virus had favorable conditions to thrive.
Coming back to “disease X”, it is interesting to note that in the first 14 years of the XNUMXst century, an area larger than Bangladesh was cut down in the rainforest of the Congo River. The United Nations warned that if current deforestation and population growth trends continue, the country’s rainforests could ccompletely disappear by the end of the century.
Is COVID-19 Disease X?
A multidisciplinary group of scientists from the US, China, Kenya and Brazil has calculated that a global investment of $ 30 billion a year in projects to protect rainforests, stopping wildlife trade will be enough to offset the costs of preventing future pandemics. Scientists say the investment will pay off quickly. Economists estimate that The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic will cost the United States about $ 16 trillion over the next 10 yearsand on a global scale, $ 28 trillion in lost production for the 2020-2025 period.
Thus, “disease X” remains hypothetical for the time being, but fear ─ not only for health─ is real.
This may interest you:
- Another pandemic? Scientists are very concerned about this virus
- Why are zoonotic viruses so dangerous to humans?
- WHO warns: we need to prepare for the next pandemic
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