What is Disease X and why it is more dangerous than COVID-19: professor clarifies WHO's statement

Disease X, for which the world is preparing and which could be 20 times more deadly than the coronavirus pandemic, is a generalized concept. Doctors are currently discussing a number of possible pathogens, including a pandemic version of influenza and bird flu.

This was told by infectious disease doctor, professor Olha Holubovska. "Disease X is a collective term. This name refers to a pathogen that can hypothetically cause a new pandemic. Experts are discussing a number of possible pathogens, including a pandemic variant of influenza and bird flu. However, there are no clear pathogens so far, they are unknown," she told TSN.ua.

Holubovska reminded that in 2018 there was also a warning of a new pandemic and after that the world faced the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"Nobody knows what will happen this time. In 2021, at the World Health Assembly, we were warned that the world is facing a new pandemic, and it is only a matter of time before it occurs. Now this topic is being discussed again and warnings are being issued by experts. But there are no pathogens yet: everything is only at the level of theories and discussions," the doctor said.

At the same time, she confirmed that disease X would be 20 times more deadly than COVID-19:

"Experts say that the world is waiting for a new pandemic that will be more deadly than COVID-19 . And the coronavirus was indeed a very terrible disease that took many lives. But in fact, it is not the worst thing that has ever happened to the human population."

At the same time, Holubovska noted that no one knows when disease X will become a reality "because it is a completely unpredictable thing."

"In general, we live in a world where biological threats are very real. Key world figures speak at world congresses on biological security, and they note that the unique capabilities of genome sequencing make biological threats to people extremely real. Unfortunately, we cannot influence this in any way. Therefore, we have to prepare," the doctor said.

According to her, epidemiologists should be prepared "to make sure that there are as few patients as possible," while clinical doctors should "save already sick people so that they receive timely therapy." The state's work should be aimed at raising public awareness, Holubovska added.

"When the coronavirus outbreak occurred, we finally got our chief sanitary doctors back and resumed training of epidemiologists. So now the situation is somewhat better than it was in 2019, although it is still far from perfect. So I hope everything will be fine. After all, we did not go through the coronavirus with the worst result, despite all the devastation in the system. At least it was without such a terrible hospital mortality rate, which was in many developed countries. Therefore, I think that in the event of a new pandemic, our local specialists will, as always, carry everything on their own shoulders," the infectious disease doctor believes.

As reported, earlier, the WHO called for preparations for a new hypothetical pandemic of the so-called X disease, which could lead to 20 times more deaths than the coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine reminded that the COVID-19 pandemic was also once called "disease X".

The disease X pandemic was discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Experts talked about the efforts needed to prepare healthcare systems for the many challenges ahead.

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