[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
World News See other World News Articles Title: Gates-Funded International Organization Names 11 Viruses As Potential Candidates for the “Next Pandemic” Had enough of Covid? No worries! According to a Gates-funded international organization, there will be more available in the future. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) identified 11 viruses that have the potential to cause the “next pandemic.” Below is the list of viruses mentioned on GAVI’s website: Rift Valley fever – The risk of a pandemic from a disease that affects farm animals may seem low, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classed Rift Valley fever as a category A bioterrorism agent because of its potential to devastate large-scale agricultural economies and cause social disruption. Hantavirus – The long incubation period combined with the emergence of New World species causing HPS mean that hantaviruses are becoming an increasing concern. Another coronavirus – Although the development of COVID-19 vaccines may help to end the current COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing high rates of infection in many countries could lead to the emergence of further variants capable of evading vaccine-induced immunity. This could mean people continue to develop COVID-19. Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever – The wide geographic spread of the hard-bodied Hyalommamarginatum ticks that carry CCHF virus, and its persistent circulation, means the risk of spill-over from animals to humans is high. Factors such as climate change and the movement of livestock or wild animals may further increase its geographic spread. Lassa fever – The combination of a long incubation time and the fact that four in five people who become infected with Lassa virus have no symptoms means the disease can spread easily through international travel. Marburg – As Marburg virus can spread from human to human through contact of bodily fluids, much like Ebola. As outbreaks in Europe and the US have already shown, increasing globalisation and international travel mean that the risk for global spread is high, especially when the incubation period could be up to three weeks. This could be disastrous given its high death rate. Yellow fever – So far, yellow fever has never been reported in Asia or the Western Pacific but, as Aedes aegypti is endemic in these regions, it would only take a few introductions by people travelling from Africa or South America for the virus to spread rapidly. H5N1 and H7N9 influenza – Since Spanish flu, there have been three pandemics – H2N2 in 1956-7, H3N2 in 1968 and H1N1 in 2009 – and before COVID-19 it was widely assumed that the next pandemic would be caused by influenza. The risk is high particularly with two subtypes, H5N1 and H7N9. Chikungunya – Chikungunya has already been a pandemic, albeit one that didn’t affect the Global North. In 2004, a large outbreak in Kenya spilled out into the islands of the Indian Ocean and Asia and led to a pandemic that spanned several years and had more than a million cases. This means there is a growing possibility we could see another pandemic. Ebola – if the virus mutates in ways that allow it to spread via respiratory droplets, as COVID-19 does, that would increase the potential for it to spread more easily and become a pandemic threat. Nipah virus – The disease is also so deadly that many governments classify it as a bioterrorism threat and limit the laboratories that are allowed to culture and study it. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||