A woman in a remote town in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been showing symptoms of haemorrhagic fever, which scientists fear may be a sign of a new deadly virus, termed ‘Disease X’.
This new pathogen could be as contagious as COVID-19, but have Ebola’s fatality rate of 50-90 per cent, according to the scientist who discovered Ebola over four decades ago.
As per a CNN report, the woman in Ingende was tested for several diseases, including Ebola, but they all came out as negative. It sparked fears her illness may have been caused by the so-called ‘Disease X’, a new “unexpected” pathogen.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said ‘Disease X’ — where X stands for unexpected — is hypothetical for now. However, scientists and public health experts fear that an outbreak could lead to serious disease around the world if and when it occurs.
“We are now in a world where new pathogens will come out. And that’s what constitutes a threat for humanity,” Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, who helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976, told CNN.
When asked if any new disease could be more apocalyptic than Covid-19, he replied, “Yes, yes, I think so”.
In a positive development, however, the patient showing symptoms that looked like Ebola has recovered since then, Hindustan Times reported.
