Five years ago, the world received the first report of a strange flu-like disease from Wuhan, China. The symptoms of the disease were said to be very common like cold, cough, fever, pneumonia, but when did the disease with these common symptoms become an epidemic. Which is now known as Covid-19.
This epidemic took the lives of more than 14 million people and shook the world economy. About 400 million people worldwide are suffering from Covid for a long time. Now once again the news of HMPV disease is coming from China. Pictures of China’s hospital and crematorium are going viral on social media. Seeing this, it can be estimated that HMPV spreads rapidly. Leaders around the world have expressed fear about HMPV. It has also been said that this disease should not take the form of an epidemic.
Leaders from all over the world and the World Health Organization clearly said that if HMPV takes the form of an epidemic, then we are fully prepared to fight this emergency. Experts on the subject say that it is too early to say anything about it. Only time will tell whether we will be able to deal with it in a better way.
New health threats emerge frequently. World health leaders declared the Mpox outbreak in Africa an international public health emergency in 2024. As the year was coming to an end. Teams of experts were investigating a possible outbreak of an unknown disease in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, now believed to be cases of severe malaria and other diseases caused by acute malnutrition. Maria Van Kerkhove, interim director of pandemic preparedness and prevention at the World Health Organization (WHO), is concerned about the situation with bird flu. The virus is not spreading from human to human. But the number of human infections has increased over the past year, with influenza in particular coming under international surveillance.
The COVID-19 pandemic had literally destabilized health systems around the world. And after this a long list of other health crises has emerged. Seasonal influenza began to spread, we had an Mpox emergency. We had Marburg, we had cholera, we had earthquakes, we had floods, measles, diphtheria, dengue, oropoch. Health systems are really slowly being overwhelmed and our health workers globally are really taking a hit. Many people are gone.Many are suffering from PTSD. Many people died.
The world has never been better placed when it comes to the expertise, technology and data systems needed to rapidly detect a threat. In most countries around the world, the spread of genomic infection has increased much faster than before. We have learned a lot from the COVID-19 pandemic for better access to medical oxygen and infection prevention and control. Is the world ready for the next pandemic or not? The answer to this question can be both yes and no. On the other hand, due to Covid and other infections, one has to face many problems like climate change, economic crisis. At present, it can be said that it is not prepared for a second pandemic.
Published at : 06 Jan 2025 04:05 PM (IST)
