A theoretical study conducted two years ago suggested a "disease X" that could pose an international danger in the future. If it was a hypothetical virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) took this warning very seriously. According to experts, Covid-19 has several things in common with this virus!
In an article published by Bloomberg on February 22, 2020, mention is made of "disease X". This term comes from a study conducted in 2018 by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (USA). It is about a hypothetical virus, "Clade X", embodying a global danger in the more or less near future.
In a note to appear in the journal Cell (PDF in English / 3 pages), researcher Marion Koopmans of the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands) speaks of a "pandemic challenge" corresponding to disease category X. For Nancy Messonnier, director of the Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the American CDC, it is very likely that the spread of the epidemic will also reach the United States.
As South China says Morning Post , the latest assessment of the Covid-19 epidemic reports 80,559 confirmed cases for 2,711 deaths and over 27,000 healings. South Korea, Italy and Iran are the three new hotspots where the number of new cases is rising rapidly. In South Korea, there are now 1,146 cases and 11 deaths. In Italy, the number of cases is 323 for 4 deaths. Finally in Iran, there are 95 cases for 14 deaths.
You should know that after the study, the WHO placed this hypothetical virus in a list where the coronaviruses SARS and MERS are also found. . The objective was to alert on the measures to be adopted concerning a possible unknown pathogen to come. However, this is the case with Covid-19. The WHO had even estimated that the next big epidemic could well be something never seen before.
The fact is that the new coronavirus has similarities with the virus in question. In addition to the famous pandemic challenge, we find the absence (or lack) of drugs and vaccines to treat the disease. In the video visible below, Dr Bernadette Murgue of the WHO gives more details about disease X.
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