EVENT OF THE MONTH: JUNE 2018

Every year, the World Health Organization commissions an expert committee identify the most threatening infectious diseases of the upcoming year. The idea is to prioritize research and development on diseases, pathogens and vaccines.

The committee met early in February this year, and the prioritized list of diseases has been released. The list is made up of familiar threats, including Ebola, Zika, Lassa Fever and a respiratory illness in the Middle East known as MERS.

And then there’s 'Disease X'! It is the last on the list, and most mysterious. Disease X is quite literally a mystery disease. It’s a recognition that we can’t see everything coming. In 2018, it’s entirely possible that we’ll see a brand-new pathogen. 

While there are a lot of possible sources for Disease X, one very likely reservoir of pathogens is the zoonotic disease. HIV was originally a zoonotic disease, spread from wild chimpanzee. Approximately 70% of new diseases are zoonotic, including Ebola.
 
Disease X could  be Nipah, a hemorrhagic virus or virulent airborne bacteria previously unknown to global health. In 1999, it killed 109 people in Malaysia, infected fruit bats infected pigs which infected people and now it appeared in Kerala, India.
 
Link: http://www.who.int