2024-04-07 18:25:55
“Of course there are people who say it can cause panic – but in reality it is better to anticipate what might happen (because it has happened many times in our history) and prepare for it.” We shouldn’t face such things unprepared,” 2024. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a January panel discussion on so-called “Disease X,” the yet-to-be-known disease that will next sweep the planet.
So what do the experts think disease X could be? According to TA Ghebreyesus, there are several contenders: “Every year we make a list of new diseases – and one of the diseases X could be Middle East respiratory syndrome, Zika virus, Ebola hemorrhagic fever.”
Possible scenarios for the next pandemic range from hypothetical scenarios where global warming unleashes previously unknown viruses from the Arctic ice to the alarmingly likely spread of diseases from the animal kingdom.
Due to climate change, deforestation in the Amazon and Africa, and the encroachment of human populations into the natural world, many experts believe that another zoonotic pandemic is all but inevitable.
“We are creating a situation that is conducive to outbreaks,” Nathalie MacDermott, a lecturer in infectious diseases at King’s College London, UK, told Sky News. – It may happen in two, twenty or more years, but we cannot afford to sit on our hands. We must remain alert, ready and willing to sacrifice again.”
What can we do?
If we don’t know what the next pandemic will be — or even when it will hit — how can we prepare for it? Actually, there are several options.
TA Ghebreyesus suggested creating an early warning system or strengthening preparedness planning. “In the case of COVID-19, our hospitals have exceeded their capacity, both in terms of space and manpower,” he noted.
According to him, one of the reinforcements could be to fix the gaps in the supply chains of medical supplies – as the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly exposed some of the weaknesses of these systems.
Other experts pointed to the emergence of contact-tracing apps to limit the spread of the pandemic: the UK’s NHS COVID app, for example, “has shown great promise,” Adam Kucharski, director of the Center for Epidemic Preparedness at the London-based medical school, told Sky News.
He acknowledged that “serious conversations” would need to be had about the trade-offs between public health and personal privacy, but also noted that “having the digital contact tracing infrastructure that some Asian countries have had can limit the disruption and limit it to people who are at risk in a particular outbreak.” greater risk rather than reverting to global measures.”
Life through the next pandemic
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries now have pandemic infrastructure that they didn’t have before, such as contact tracing apps or even the ability to work from home more flexibly.
Vaccines should be distributed more quickly if supply chain issues are resolved in time.
“Most governments are trying to solve the 100-day challenge of how to contain the spread of the virus until a scientific response – such as a vaccine, diagnosis or treatment – is validated, manufactured and brought to the public,” Devi, head of the Department of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian. Sridhar. “The US proposed timeframe is 130 days from detection of the pathogen until the vaccine is offered to the entire US population, and 200 days until the vaccine is available worldwide.”
Depending on where you live, future quarantines may be very different – or there may not be any at all.
“Quarantine is an extreme political response and leverage that many governments have used in 2020 when faced with a health care collapse,” Sridhar wrote. “Now we have time to develop better ways to contain the disease and to explore how to safely keep schools and businesses open with more targeted public health interventions.”
Of course, this all depends on whether governments — and, if necessary, the private sector — actually start implementing the preparedness protocols that public health authorities have been calling for for years, according to IFLScience.
2024-04-07 18:25:55