WHO Seeks Minds To Probe New Pathogens That Jump From Animals To Humans, The World Health Organization is now looking for the world’s top scientists to help with investigations into new high-threat pathogens that leap from animals to humans and might trigger the next pandemic.
WHO Seeks Minds To Probe New Pathogens That Jump From Animals To Humans
The World Health Organization has said that it will be launching a request for applications in order to review progress on the next studies into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. WHO head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, Maria van Kerkhove, told Reuters that they need to bring in “the best minds here” in order to get an objective view. The panel is expected to have its first meeting virtually late September and will be composed of 25 experts Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, announced the panel back in July.
“Over the last two decades, we’ve seen a number of these diseases return: SARS, MERS, various avian influenzas, Zika, yellow fever, and COVID-19,” explains van Kerkhove. “It took more than a year to establish that dromedary camels were the intermediate source of MERS carried by bats,” said van Kerkhove, an American epidemiologist and WHO’s the technical lead on COVID-19.
“We’ve already been working on this for three years, so it’s not like we’re saying that we’re going to start something new,” said Ziegler. “The old group was working on the same issues, but only in a local approach; now, with this combined effort, we’ll be able to take into account all of these different factors at once.” She added: “Given the geopolitical complexities of all of this, we’d want to make sure that we have a strong technical and scientific structure in place for the next time because there will be a next time.”
A recent study conducted by experts from the WHO in Wuhan, China concluded that SARS-CoV-2 virus likely spread to humans through another animal intermediary. However, more research is needed in order to confirm this theory.
The World Health Organization has urged all nations to collaborate on the investigation, but China has rejected additional inspections of laboratories and markets in its territory. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that because of a lack of raw data on the early days of infection, the investigation was slowed down.
Dr. Lane van Kerkhove, the virus’s discoverer, stated in an interview on federal television that Chinese officials had just made public comments about conducting research. She said certain crucial studies include serology tests for antibodies discovered there in 2019 and “I’d want to see more research on the animals sold at market, tracking back.”