Disease X? What is this? An Episode of the Power Puff Girls?
UK scientists at Porton Down Laboratory in Wiltshire are grabbing the bull by the horns, developing vaccines as insurance against the enigmatic “Disease X.”
- The team drew up a threat list of animal viruses capable of rapidly infecting humans.
- Collaborations with the scientific community ensure readiness for future pandemics.
Over 200 scientists at the high-security Porton Down laboratory, run by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), in Wiltshire, have taken proactive health measures to combat the potential outbreak of an unknown pathogen, “Disease X,” which could trigger the next global pandemic.
The team has drawn up a list of animal viruses capable of infecting humans, which could rapidly spread worldwide in the future. “Disease X” remains an enigma, making it crucial for scientists to prepare in advance for any potential outbreak. We want vital pharmaceuticals before things go south, this time around. Besides, we never know what viruses are going around right now.
Professor Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UKHSA, emphasized the importance of being prepared and preventing such a pandemic if possible. “What we try to do here is keep an eye on the ones that we do know. For example, with Covid, we are still here testing all the new variants with the vaccines that have been provided to check they are still effective. But we are also looking at how quickly we can develop a new test that would be used if a brand-new virus popped up somewhere.” We did indeed learn fatal lessons in the pandemic.
The UK government has opened a state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre at Porton Down. The facility will serve as a critical resource to assess pathogens without existing vaccines or improve immunization for diseases like the flu or monkeypox. The center’s expertise is a crucial step towards achieving the 100 Days Mission, a global goal set by the G7 in 2021 to deploy a vaccine against any new pandemic threat within 100 days of identification.
The center has expanded its scope to include monitoring high-risk pathogens such as bird flu, and hantavirus. Thanks to rigid scientific principles, the center achieved early success with the development of the world’s first vaccine against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne disease with a fatality rate of 30%.
The research efforts focus on three main types of threats:
- Antibiotic-resistance
- Potential threats like bird flu and new COVID-19 variants
- The unforeseen “Disease X.”
The center collaborates with the pharmaceutical industry, scientists, and doctors to support all stages of vaccine development, from early research to effectiveness evaluation.
After the pandemic, and with the rising risks posed by climate change, urbanization, and closer interactions with animals, Onward research for emerging diseases has become critical.
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