Pathogens that cause the bird flu, COVID-19, and a bat-borne virus that causes brain swelling pose a risk to public health and could lead to the next pandemic, biosecurity experts in the United Kingdom have warned.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) identified 24 pathogen families as a health risk for one of several reasons: either they are highly contagious or cause serious disease, they do not have enough vaccines or treatments to combat them, or they could be exacerbated by climate change or antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
They include the pathogen groups behind illnesses like mpox, coronavirus, norovirus (or the winter vomiting bug), the flu, gonorrhoea, Ebola, Zika, Lassa fever, and Nipah virus, which is mainly spread by fruit bats and can cause brain swelling.
Eight of these pathogen families are at high or medium risk of causing a pandemic, the agency said. While there are vaccines and treatments available for some of them, many are still in clinical trials.
UKHSA officials called for more research and investment to keep the pathogens from spiralling into a bigger problem.
"We hope this will help to speed up vaccine and diagnostics development where it is most needed, to ensure we are fully prepared in our fight against potentially deadly pathogens," Dr Isabel Oliver, the UKHSA’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement.
Pathogen list 'a double edge sword'
Independent experts said the list could help streamline the UK’s efforts to prepare for looming infectious disease threats.
It follows an update from the World Health Organization (WHO) last year that named 33 "priority pathogens" as pandemic-level risks.
However, Jose Vazquez-Boland, chair of infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, warned that the priority list could be a “double-edged sword,” raising attention to high-risk pathogens but potentially undercutting research on those that did not make the cut.
Meanwhile, Emma Thomson, who directs the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, urged the UKHSA to regularly update the priority list when new risks appear.
"It is essential that this list remains dynamic and responsive to emerging threats," Thomson said in a statement.
"History has shown that pandemic risks can arise from unexpected sources".
