What is Disease X and why are scientists emphasizing on gearing up for it?

To dispel the initial fear, Disease X is not the name designated to a viral disease already detected but a concept to help better navigate an epidemic in the future. "Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease. The R&D Blueprint explicitly seeks to enable early cross-cutting R&D preparedness that is also relevant for an unknown Disease X," WHO's official website mentions. 

The Daily Mail interviewed Kate Bingham, a managing partner at a venture capital firm, SV Health Investors. She had led the vaccine task force for the United Kingdom during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Scientists are aware of 25 virus families, each of them comprising hundreds or thousands of different viruses, any of which could evolve to cause a pandemic,” she stated in the interview. 

She stated that pandemics are not just an anomaly but a reflection of changing times. “Why are pandemics on the increase? First, it’s increasingly connected through globalisation. Second, more and more people are cramming into cities, where they often come into close contact with others.

And third, millions of acres of natural habitat are being destroyed by us each year,” she emphasised in the interview. 

She stressed on developing an outlook that goes beyond research on vaccines.” We urgently need to invest in state-of-the-art systems for international surveillance of prospective virus threats. Ideally, Disease X will be neutralised before it starts spreading across the globe and mutating,” she proclaimed.