Another global pandemic could be 'absolutely catastrophic' for the human race and much more deadly than Covid, scientists have warned. Experts have identified a virus which could cause the next pandemic after it was added to a global watchlist of dangerous diseases.
Researchers fear the next pandemic could be caused by a paramyxovirus such as Nipah. There are 75 known paramyxoviruses including mumps and measles and they are described as the most infectious viruses known to man.
Raina Plowright, a disease ecologist for Cornell University, told The Atlantic that while there hasn't yet been a recorded pandemic caused by paramyxoviruses, the group seemed poised to make the jump. Such a scenario was would be "absolutely catastrophic" for the human race, WalesOnline reports.
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There are currently an estimated 1.6million viruses, scientists believe, and more than half have the ability to infect humans. Of the many which could mutate and hit us, scientists believe that one of the paramyxovirus group poses a big threat, with the group currently "simmering in the background".
The Nipah virus is known to result in fatal encephalitis with a mortality rate of 40-75 per cent, compared with the 1 per cent rate amongst Covid-19 patients. Virologists say paramyxoviruses are much faster at spreading between humans. The World Health Organisation has already highlighted Nipah virus and its close cousins as some of its top-priority pathogens.
Benhur Lee, a virologist at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine, told The Atlantic the flu virus has already been "sequenced to death", but that this wasn't possible for paramyxoviruses as most people struck by more than one do not survive, making it difficult to develop vaccines.
Virologist Paul Duprex told the title meanwhile that rubulaviruses, one of the paramyxovirus subfamily that includes mumps, are also a cause for concern. He describes measles as "literally the most transmissible human virus on the planet" able to spread through the air, and have been hosted by humans, apes, pigs and dogs.
The possibility of a Nipah virus pandemic was the inspiration for the 2011 blockbuster Contagion, which starred Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow in a world struck by the illness. In the film, the killer infection spreads between bats and pigs before hitting Paltrow's character as she takes a business trip to Hong Kong, killing her days later.
Symptoms of Nipah include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Difficulty breathing
- Vomiting
- Severe symptoms may follow, such as:
- Disorientation, drowsiness, or confusion
- Seizures
- Coma
- Brain swelling (encephalitis)
