At a time when the world is still grappling with a health crisis, the threat of another disease deadlier than COVID-19 seems to be looming large.
Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, the scientist who discovered Ebola nearly 40 years ago, has warned that a host of new and potentially fatal viruses emerging from Africa's tropical rainforests may be affecting humanity in the years to come.
A CNN report quoted Professor Tamfum as saying: “We are now in a world where new pathogens will come out. And that is what constitutes a threat to humanity.”
At present, there is the threat of a deadly disease called ‘Disease X’ affecting humans. This reportedly spreads as fast as the novel coronavirus and is as fatal as the Ebola virus, which could start another pandemic in the days to come.
The fear of a second pandemic started after a woman hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was found suffering from symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever, which could have been caused by an unidentified deadly pathogen.
The CNN report stated that the woman identified as Ingende was tested for multiple diseases, but they all tested negative, sparking fears that her illness might have been caused by ‘Disease X’.
The World Health Organization has said that Disease X is still hypothetical but could spiral into a deadly pandemic.
Professor Tamfum has said that diseases such as the yellow fever, influenza, rabies, have all began from animal to human transmission, adding such incidences are common and could cause epidemics and pandemics in the future.
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