Saudi government issues statement to allay concerns over hypothetical pathogen ‘Disease X’

The recently concluded Davos summit in Switzerland focused on a number of pressing topics currently hurting the international community, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, artificial intelligence, climate change and the hypothetical pathogen “Disease X”.

However, the Saudi Ministry of Health issued a statement on Wednesday to allay fears about the development, clarifying that the comments by World Health Organisation officials at the annual meeting were based on a theoretical scenario, as per the Saudi Press Agency.

Most epidemics do not become pandemics: Ministry

The ministry’s statement has come against a backdrop of several social media users reportedly sharing a range of posts falsely stating that Disease X was real, and portraying it as an imminent threat to humankind.

Disease X represents a hypothetical unknown illness, the ministry explained, highlighting the natural existence of numerous pathogens, some of which are known to mutate and have the potential to jump from animals to humans.

‘Disease X’ is a placeholder for an unknown pathogen that could cause a global emergency.

History has taught us that we must anticipate new threats. Failing to prepare leaves the world prepared to fail.

At #WEF24 today, I spoke about @WHO initiatives that are supporting… pic.twitter.com/M4uF44WYNj

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 17, 2024

The ministry further underscored that most epidemics do not become pandemics and that outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic were “very rare”. It noted that the Kingdom was ready for any health crisis and that cautionary statements were a regular occurrence.

The purpose of such warnings from the global health organisations and researchers was an attempt to ensure governments prepare for potential threats, the ministry added. Still, the hypothetical pathogen has caught considerable limelight in the past few days.

Initiatives to prepare for the next major pandemic

Following the disaster triggered by COVID-19, experts have been trying to prepare a robust and effective plan to address the hypothetical scenario. It is important to bolster the health infrastructure as it got overburdened during the lockdowns.

In addition, global organisations have already been implementing steps to prepare for the next major outbreak. The initiatives include the pandemic fund, the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub and even steps to improve collaborative surveillance between countries.

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