Ukoaka Bonaventure Michael, Okesanya Olalekan John, Daniel Faithful Miebaka, Ahmed Mohammed Mustaf, Udam Ntishor Gabriel, Wagwula Precious Miracle, Adigun Olaniyi Abideen, Udoh Raphael Augustine, Peter Iniubong Godswill, Lawal Haleema
Community and Clinical Research Division, First On-Call Initiative, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Department of Internal Medicine, Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria.
Infez Med. 2024 Dec 1;32(4):463-477. doi: 10.53854/liim-3204-5. eCollection 2024.
Historically, pandemics constitute a major nuisance to public health. They have a debilitating impact on global health with previous occurrences causing major mortalities worldwide. The adverse outcomes are not limited to health outcomes but ravage the social, economic, and political landscapes. The World Health Organization (WHO) stands at the front of the pandemic response, strategizing to contain and mitigate the impacts on humans and the environment. It also intervenes in regional disease outbreaks that pose a threat to global health through strategic technical guidance, resource allocations, and expert support. With emerging pathogens, and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions are currently underway on global preparedness for a potential future pandemic. The effects of previous pandemics underscore the need to improve global health preparedness for upcoming pandemics. The WHO's July 2024 updated list of emerging pathogens serves as a potential tool to foster global health readiness for a future pandemic. It represents a change in the world's approach to emerging and re-emerging pathogens, shifting focus from specific pathogens to adopting a broader family-focused approach. This new list recognizes the shortcomings of previous lists and adopts a more forward-thinking, proactive, and flexible approach to dealing with familiar and unfamiliar pandemic risks, now incorporating 'Prototype Pathogens' and 'Pathogen X' into its risk classification. The WHO has set the pace, developing tools and guidelines for practice. This updated list of high-priority pathogens seeks to gear research and development toward combating and neutralizing the virulence of these pathogens. Recent outbreaks of Cholera, Mpox, and Dengue fever in Africa, Avian influenza (H5N2) in Mexico, Nipah virus disease in Bangladesh, and Oropouche virus in the Americas necessitate intensifying regional disease surveillance Research organizations and institutions must prioritize incorporating these tools and approaches for shared learning and collective action established during the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent public health emergencies in the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) Initiative as outlined by WHO.
从历史上看，大流行对公共卫生构成了重大困扰。它们对全球健康产生了削弱性影响，以往的疫情在全球范围内造成了重大死亡。不良后果不仅限于健康方面，还对社会、经济和政治格局造成了破坏。世界卫生组织（WHO）站在应对大流行的前沿，制定战略以控制和减轻对人类和环境的影响。它还通过战略技术指导、资源分配和专家支持，对威胁全球健康的区域疾病爆发进行干预。随着新出现的病原体以及在新冠疫情之后，目前正在就全球对未来可能发生的大流行的防范进行讨论。以往大流行的影响凸显了提高全球对即将到来的大流行的卫生防范能力的必要性。世卫组织2024年7月更新的新出现病原体清单是促进全球对未来大流行的卫生防范准备的一个潜在工具。它代表了世界应对新出现和重新出现病原体的方式的转变，从关注特定病原体转向采用更广泛的以家族为重点的方法。这份新清单认识到了以往清单的不足之处，并采取了更具前瞻性、主动性和灵活性的方法来应对熟悉和不熟悉的大流行风险，现在将“原型病原体”和“病原体X”纳入其风险分类。世卫组织已经迈出了步伐，制定了实践工具和指南。这份更新的高优先级病原体清单旨在推动研发工作，以对抗和中和这些病原体的毒性。最近在非洲爆发的霍乱、猴痘和登革热，墨西哥的禽流感（H5N2），孟加拉国的尼帕病毒病以及美洲的奥罗普切病毒，都需要加强区域疾病监测。研究组织和机构必须优先将这些工具和方法纳入世卫组织《防范新兴威胁的准备和应对能力》（PRET）倡议中，该倡议是在新冠疫情和其他近期突发公共卫生事件期间建立的，用于共同学习和集体行动。
