Ebola discoverer warns of another pandemic

Ebola discoverer warns of another pandemic
Ebola discoverer warns of another pandemic
Anonim

The scientist who was one of the first to detect the Ebola virus - Professor Jean-Jacques Muembe-Tamfum - warned of the risk of a deadly "disease X". One of the patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo had early symptoms of hemorrhagic fever, he said, and tested negative for Ebola and other known diseases.

Muembe-Tamfum believes future pandemics will be driven by a virus that can spread as quickly as the COVID-19 coronavirus. The scientist called the emergence of new pathogens a threat to humanity. He conditionally named the new, contagious and fatal disease "Disease X". "X" in this case stands for surprise, specifies CNN.

"Ebola was unknown. COVID was unknown," Muembe-Tamfum reminds. "We must be wary of new diseases." A new large-scale epidemic may arise from the massive deforestation in Africa. A person will have more contact with pathogens of various diseases.

The professor helped detect the Ebola virus in 1976. He took the first blood samples from victims of a mysterious disease that caused hemorrhages and killed about 88 percent of the patients and 80 percent of the staff working at the Yambuku Mission Hospital, where the disease was first discovered. The scientist is still at the forefront of the hunt for new pathogens.

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