The biggest threat to humanity in terms of the risk of developing a new pandemic is influenza. This is what leading infectious disease scientists say. How reports The Guardian, detailed results of the survey of specialists will be presented at the next congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) in Barcelona.
187 researchers took part in the survey. 57 percent of them believe that the next global outbreak of a deadly infection will be caused by one of the flu strains. 21 percent of experts suggest that the next pandemic will be caused by some mysterious “disease X,” which is still unknown to science.
It is noteworthy that 15 percent of respondents believe that the new pandemic will be caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which in 2019 caused the Covid outbreak around the world. Its various mutations still occur today. The survey also named viruses such as Zika, Ebola, Lassa, Nipa, but they scored no more than two percent as possible causes of the next pandemic.
Note that earlier the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern about the spread of the H5N1 influenza strain, which has led to the death of tens of millions of birds around the world since 2020. The virus has recently begun to appear in mammals, and was first reported in cattle. This indicates a mutation of the flu.
There is no evidence yet that H5N1 is spreading from person to person. However, cases of human infection with this type of influenza from animals show that it is extremely difficult to tolerate, and the mortality rate during infection is very high, since humans do not have natural immunity to it.
The prospect of a flu pandemic worries experts greatly. However, scientists note that it will be possible to find a vaccine much faster than in the case of COVID-19, since there are many drugs in the world for different strains of influenza.
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