Influenza is still the biggest threat to global health as WHO raises fears about the spread of avian strain
Influenza is the pathogen most likely to trigger a new pandemic in the near future, according to leading scientists.
An international survey, to be published next weekend, will reveal that 57% of senior disease experts now think that a strain of flu virus will be the cause of the next global outbreak of deadly infectious illness.
The belief that influenza is the world’s greatest pandemic threat is based on long-term research showing it is constantly evolving and mutating, said Cologne University’s Jon Salmanton-García, who carried out the study.
“Each winter influenza appears,” he said. “You could describe these outbreaks as little pandemics. They are more or less controlled because the different strains that cause them are not virulent enough – but that will not necessarily be the case for ever.”
Wasn’t it that COVID came as a surprise for most scientists cause they bet on avian flu viruses? So it isn’t any new info and a fear they’ve had for quite some time now.
I heard from a guy from the German COVID watch (RKI), that the probability for a new epidemic is around 2.x% each year and around 1.x% for a pandemic. That’s why there is a big epidemic around every 30-50 years and a pandemic every 80-100 years. What type of virus will be the next big thing is nothing but a guess and often wrong (like COVID out of nowhere), cause it’s difficult to predict the next mutation of a virus. That’s also why a lot of flu vaccines in the past didn’t have the effect they hoped for (mostly it’s still a very good vaccine!).
No, not at all. In fact, the initial vaccines for covid started safety and effectiveness trials within months.
By early January 2020, that genetic blueprint was in hand and the first vaccines to test were ready just a few weeks later.
I would think after SARS and MERS that many scientists thought that a coronavirus would be a good candidate for the next pandemic.
Except “nobody listens”. Well that’s not entirely true: Obama’s administration created an entire pandemic response team whose sole job was to prepare in advance for when something like that was bound to inevitably happen - like figure out what to do, how to do it, how to handle getting the complex messaging out to people who are not comfortable with a lot of details or the varying levels of uncertainty that was going to be inevitable, etc. But who would ever want anything that that man (cough of color cough - what?, I didn’t say anything, I just coughed is all!) touched? I heard that he even has cooties, eww gross! From a reliable source even - a Stable Genius who uses all the best words!
Anyway, it’s a good thing that the next inevitable pandemic (that will definitely 100% happen) is absolutely certain to need zero federal funding, bc it will never ever happen, so we can all just go back to our regular lives, safe in the knowledge that the top 0.1% will be fine no matter what. The Economy will go on and on… all praise be to The Economy.