A top Edinburgh scientist has suggested that another pandemic could be “around the corner” from “Disease X”. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our daily lives for almost a whole year, especially those of us in the United States. Given the ongoing distribution of the vaccine and the Biden administration stepping up preventive measures to control the pandemic, the news that another global health crisis could be just around the corner is not what many of us want to hear right now. Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that another pandemic could be on the horizon caused by an unknown “X disease.” He acknowledged that in 2017, he and several colleagues asked the World Health Organization to add something called Disease X to its list of priority diseases. He added that the impending pandemic should be on everyone’s radar. “You could use the phrase ‘it’s when, not if,'” he said of his potential.
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“We thought the next emerging pandemic could be a virus we don’t even know about yet – honestly, we thought it was the most likely scenario,” he said. At a meeting the following year, experts examined what the disease might be and came up with a possibility of a new coronavirus related to Mers or Sers.
“I’m not sure he’s thinking much about the next threat, while the world is fully focused on approaching the one he has. I absolutely agree that he needs to think more about that,” he said. to say. “Unfortunately, I like to say, we did a lot of work, we did our review, we entered the exam room and they gave us the wrong work.”
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“We thought the next emerging pandemic could be a virus we don’t even know about yet,” he said. “Honestly, I thought it was the most likely scenario. It raises those who will, in fact, cause the next pandemic in this constant stream of new viruses that appear. Occasionally one appears, so we notice the rare event is always difficult. “
It seems that after all, there may not be a “post-pandemic.”
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