Biosecurity

'Disease X' could be the world's next epidemic

As if Ebola, Zika and SARS aren’t enough to worry about, The World Health Organization has added a mysterious, yet-to-exist new malady to its list of nine diseases that may cause a worldwide epidemic.

“Disease X” is not a newly identified killer pathogen. It’s a so called “known unknown” — that could be created by biological mutation, such as previous deadly epidemics such as Spanish Flu or HIV. Or it might be spawned by a terror attack, or simply an accident.

“Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown,” the organization said.

By including this mystery killer on its “List of Blueprint priority diseases,” along with eight better-known diseases such as MERS and Marburg Virus, WHO was aiming to acknowledge that infectious diseases are unpredictable.