Next pandemic could arrive ‘sooner rather than later’

Two months after the World Health Organization declared the end of the health emergency caused by the coronavirus, the organization remains on alert for the possibility of a new pandemic. While there is still some uncertainty in this regard, we are considering multiple scenarios to determine what it will look like and when it will happen.

WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus himself warned in May that “ The Threat of Another Pathogen Emergence with a deadliest potential“. On the same line, Juan Garcia ArriazaThe Csic virologist explained to 20minutos, “It is well known that it will happen again, probably sooner rather than later. In his case, he noted that the next pandemic could again be caused by an “airborne virus.”

For many years, the World Health Organization has been preparing a list pathogen who pandemic potential Getting older.most of them are Virus and spread through the respiratory tractgo through mosquito or through direct contact with liquid. In airborne viruses, Coronavirushe SARShe Myers the waves influenza.

One of the main concerns, as García Arriaza warns, is “a flu virus It can spread relatively easily from person to person and has a high mortality rate”. The influenza virus is “morphologically more complex,” which makes it harder to control.

about it, Fernando SimonThe Director of Health Ccaes has recognized that the “most important risks” are Avian Influenza. To make his case, he points to “its enormous expansion in the animal kingdom”.Still, in order for the virus to spread from person to person and cause a pandemic, the virus needs to go through something mutation.

On the other hand, in viruses that spread via contact directlymost notably Ebola virushe Marburg virus,one of them Lassa virus or one of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

The hosts of the first two are bats, the hosts of the third are mice, and the hosts of the fourth are ticks and cattle. When it infects humans, it can spread through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated objects.

Likewise, in those passing vectorhow could they mosquitomostly producing diseases originating in tropical regions such as dengue

he Zika virus the waves chikungunya fever.

Furthermore, due to climate change, “countries in the transition zone, such as Spain, will warm over time and will become niches for mosquitoes, which are clearly linked to the spread of viruses that have not traditionally existed in Europe.” , Arriaza said.