British scientists: the next pandemic will be more dangerous than the previous one

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Two cases of avian influenza were recently reported from China in a man and a woman who were 1,5 km apart. Before that, Cambodia was informed of two cases, one of which ended in death. What will the next pandemic look like and what can be done to stop it? This question was asked by British media resource MailOnline to experts who were members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) during the COVID-19 crisis.

According to British scientists interviewed, the next pandemic will be more dangerous than the previous one. Humanity is waiting for a lot of diseases that will arise for a large number of reasons, ranging from mutations in the common flu to the development of "invincible" microbes that are resistant to antibiotics.



So, epidemiologist professor Rowland Kao from the University of Edinburgh explained that before COVID-19, an influenza pandemic was considered the most likely and nothing has changed now.

Like any virus, the flu can evolve. And we have special black holes about which very little is known, the most obvious being China.

Kao said.

In turn, Dr. Robin Thompson, an expert in the field of mathematical epidemiology from the University of Warwick, clarified that influenza viruses and coronaviruses can be called pandemic candidates.

Or it (pandemic - Ed.) can be caused by disease X - a pathogen that we have not yet discovered. We need to prepare for a new pandemic now. Lest it be too late when it starts

Thompson added.

At the same time, epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist Mark Woolhouse, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, pointed out that if you start actively preparing for a large number of potential threats, you can harm yourself.

We risk preparing for the wrong pandemic. I would not discount bird flu, but I would rate it lower than, for example, another coronavirus. However, we must be prepared for both. Our first line of defense is early detection of a potential outbreak. An effective global surveillance system is needed

Woolhouse explained.

Professor Moritz Gerstung, an expert in computational biology from the European Bioinformatics Institute, is of the opinion that influenza and coronaviruses are probably in the first place.

But what I would like to highlight is the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance. The use of antibiotics should be more strictly regulated

Gerstung noticed.

Moreover, epidemiologist Dr. Adam Kucharsky from the London School of Hygiene also thinks that the flu should be at the top of the list, given that it has caused numerous pandemics in the past, like new coronaviruses.

But perhaps the next pandemic will be non-respiratory, like HIV or Zika.

Kucharsky summed up.
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  1. +2
    5 March 2023 20: 01
    British scientists: the next pandemic will be more dangerous than the previous one

    So the Americans came up with something more serious than COVID-19.
    I wonder if they have an antidote this time?
    1. 0
      5 March 2023 23: 18
      a very tanned employee of a Western company about the production of vaccines has already let slip that his company is also engaged in coronavirus mutations ... officially for general development.
  2. 0
    6 March 2023 05: 51
    Stupid Yankees, they thought they would destroy the Slavs with the covid developed in US biolaboratories around the world, and he hit them himself ... So another muck of their development will 'accidentally' break out of their own laboratory, conditionally located in China ... or Kazakhstan . But again there are no antidotes (((US laboratories must be expelled to their territory, to their continent ...
  3. 0
    6 March 2023 09: 00
    If we recall that the waves of the Crown were mainly carried by the "elite". returning from the boutiques of France and Italy, then again nothing shines for us ....
    And the Arabs are still roaming something like a deadly "camel flu". They will bring it from Dubai, and kapets
  4. +1
    6 March 2023 09: 35
    China is an ideal testing ground for new types of viruses.
    The country is rich and densely populated.
    The Anglo-Saxons developed a new virus. Launched it on the sly to China.
    And then: accuse, threaten and demand money.
    Don't even try to make excuses. Isn't it the same with Covid?
    Who cares now where the Skripals are now, why they are alive and whether they were actually poisoned or not.
    But Russia was doused with slop from head to toe, which sanctions they wanted to impose.
    So it is with China.
    And it would be necessary at the right time to raise the question or or.
    Or evidence on the table, or a nuclear strike on impudent Anglo-Saxon mugs.
    How is it different with them?
  5. -1
    6 March 2023 13: 29
    There is no point in boasting about the miracle of medicine. Everyone has public medicine in the pen. Here, perhaps, Cuba is ahead with its 100% vaccine. And Japan, which has learned to heal. During the year of the pandemic, not a single death. Less verbiage, and more money for medicine.
    1. +1
      6 March 2023 15: 12
      ahead of Cuba with its 100% vaccine. And Japan, which has learned to heal

      Unfortunately, these are fairy tales!