What is Disease X and why is it in the news?
What is Disease X and why is it in the news?
www.newscientist.com What is Disease X and why is it in the news?
The World Health Organization uses the term "Disease X" to refer to an infection with the potential for causing the next epidemic – or a new global pandemic
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Don’t panic! Disease X doesn’t exist yet – but it might one day. Disease X is the label that the World Health Organization uses to refer to some currently unknown infectious condition that is capable of causing an epidemic or – if it spreads across multiple countries – a pandemic. The term, coined in 2017, can be used to mean a newly discovered pathogen or any known pathogen with newly acquired pandemic potential. By the latter definition, covid-19 was the first Disease X. But there could be another in the future.
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