2024-08-06 17:52:42
(ANSA) – ROME, 06 AUG – After about two years of work, the World Health Organization has updated the list of pathogens at highest risk of giving rise to a new pandemic in the future. These are 32 viruses and bacteria. To these is added a pathogen X, a currently unknown agent, which, as happened in 2019 with the SarsCoV2 virus, could emerge and spread throughout the world.
“History teaches us that the next pandemic is a question of when, not if. It also teaches us the importance of science and political resolve in mitigating its impact,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
The document (‘Pathogens prioritization: a scientific framework for epidemic and pandemic research preparedness’) was produced by a committee of about 200 scientists appointed by the World Health Organization, who reviewed over 1,600 pathogens to identify the most concrete threats. The aim is to indicate the fields in which it is a priority to strengthen research and develop countermeasures that allow for timely intervention should a future pandemic arise.
Compared to the previous version, which included only 9 pathogens, the list is much longer, both due to the greater awareness that has developed with the Covid-19 pandemic, and due to the emergence of new phenomena – such as climate change – that could change the behavior of various viruses. The new list includes pathogens such as cholera vibrio or salmonella, bacteria with high percentages of resistance to antibiotics such as Klebsiella pneumoniae. There are also vector-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya, but also mpox. Smallpox also reappears: “With the decline of immunity, it has the potential to cause a pandemic, if released”, we read in the notes of the document.
Of course, among those under special observation, there are numerous influenza viruses, avian but not only. To these are added the threats contained in the previous versions of the document: from Ebola to the Zika virus to viruses belonging to the SarsCoV2 family. (ANSA).
2024-08-06 17:52:42