All you need to know about Disease X after Britain warned of new pandemic

CAIRO – 28 June 2022: Experts from Britain warned of the possibility of the emergency of a new pandemic, referred to globally as disease “X,” and called for strengthening its preparations amid efforts to combat COVID, Monkeypox and Polio.

It all started on Wednesday, when traces of polio was found in sewage water in separate areas in the British capital for the first time in 40 years.

Dr. Yasser el-Sherbeiny, Professor of Virology at the University of Nottingham, stressed that the samples of sewage water analyzed by health authorities in UK revealed that the remnants are increasing in number over the past months.  

“This creates alert indicating that there could be one or two families at least are carrying this disease, which could be transmitted to other citizens,” he said during a phone call with TV Show "El-Hekaya" aired on MBC Masr, and hosted by TV Presenter Amr Adeeb.

Regarding the symptoms of X, Professor Yasser el-Sherbeiny said that it resemble the symptoms of polio, and could cause paralysis. He added that vaccines in this case should be by injection and not through the mouth.

During the past months, a series of bird flu was discovered spreading between people last January, and in February, Lassa fever infection appeared, which is a viral illness spread by the common African rat.

In March, a woman from Central Asia was diagnosed with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Britain.

In addition to these viruses, monkeypox appeared last May, where dozens of infections of this virus were recorded in UK and U.S..