This is based on studies showing that influenza is constantly evolving and changing.
Scientists predict that influenza is a pathogen that will likely start a new pandemic soon. The results of an international study, which will be released later next week, indicate that 57 percent of leading pathologists now predict that a strain of the flu virus will cause the world’s next major infectious disease outbreak. The source will be, according to a report in As guardian.
The idea is based on long-term studies showing that influenza is constantly evolving and mutating, said John Salmonton-Garcia of the University of Cologne, who conducted the study. “Influenza shows up every winter. You could describe these outbreaks as mini-pandemics. They’re more or less controlled because the different strains that cause them aren’t quite virulent — but they’re important. Not forever,” he said.
Specifically, the results of the survey will be revealed next week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Congress in Barcelona.
A virus currently unknown to science, known as Disease X, is the second most likely source of the pandemic after the flu, according to 21 percent of experts involved in the study. According to scientists, the next pandemic will be brought about by an unknown microorganism that will appear out of nowhere.
Disease X is not a specific disease but a name for a potential virus similar to Covid-19. It may be a new agent, a virus, a bacterium, or a fungus with no known cure. The global health body has classified the unknown diseases into Covid-19, Ebola, Lassa fever, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Nipah, and Zika, which have already caused widespread deaths during outbreaks.
The Lancet said the WHO formally began using the term in 2018 to denote the next unknown disease of pandemic potential.
A WHO report from November 2022 mentioned that disease X was included to represent an unknown pathogen that could cause a severe international pandemic. According to the WHO, worldwide, the number of potential pathogens is huge, while resources for disease research and development (R&D) are limited.