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 t
hey 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.