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The coronavirus may be ‘Disease X’ health experts warned about
Bloomberg News
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2020 at 6:06 a.m. | UPDATED: February 22, 2020 at 6:09 a.m.
By Jason Gale | Bloomberg
The World Health Organization cautioned years ago that a mysterious “disease X” could spark an international contagion. The new coronavirus, with its ability to quickly morph from mild to deadly, is emerging as a contender.
From recent reports about the stealthy ways COVID-19 spreads and maims, a picture is emerging of an enigmatic pathogen whose effects are mainly mild, but which occasionally — and unpredictably — turns deadly in the second week. In less than three months, it has infected about 77,000 people, mostly in China, and killed more than 2,200.
“Whether it will be contained or not, this outbreak is rapidly becoming the first true pandemic challenge that fits the disease X category,” Marion Koopmans, head of viroscience at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, and a member of the WHO’s emergency committee, wrote Wednesday in the journal Cell...
Read more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02...disease-x-the-health-agency-warned-about/amp/
Bloomberg News
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2020 at 6:06 a.m. | UPDATED: February 22, 2020 at 6:09 a.m.
By Jason Gale | Bloomberg
The World Health Organization cautioned years ago that a mysterious “disease X” could spark an international contagion. The new coronavirus, with its ability to quickly morph from mild to deadly, is emerging as a contender.
From recent reports about the stealthy ways COVID-19 spreads and maims, a picture is emerging of an enigmatic pathogen whose effects are mainly mild, but which occasionally — and unpredictably — turns deadly in the second week. In less than three months, it has infected about 77,000 people, mostly in China, and killed more than 2,200.
“Whether it will be contained or not, this outbreak is rapidly becoming the first true pandemic challenge that fits the disease X category,” Marion Koopmans, head of viroscience at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, and a member of the WHO’s emergency committee, wrote Wednesday in the journal Cell...
Read more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02...disease-x-the-health-agency-warned-about/amp/