NATURE – The number of pathogens that could trigger the next pandemic has grown to more than 30, and now includes influenza A virus, dengue virus and monkeypox virus, according to an updated list published by the World Health Organization (WHO) this week.
Researchers say that the list of ‘priority pathogens’ will help organizations to decide where to focus their efforts in developing treatments, vaccines and diagnostics.
“It’s very comprehensive,” says Neelika Malavige, an immunologist at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Colombo, Sri Lanka, who was involved in the effort. She studies the Flaviviridae family of viruses, which includes the virus that causes dengue fever.
The priority pathogens, published in a report on 30 July, were selected for their potential to cause a global public-health emergency in people, such as a pandemic.
This was on the basis of evidence showing that the pathogens were highly transmissible and virulent, and that there was limited access to vaccines and treatments. The WHO’s two previous efforts, in 2017 and 2018, identified roughly a dozen priority pathogens.
“The prioritization process helps identify critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed urgently,“ and ensure the efficient use of resources, says Ana Maria Henao Restrepo, who leads the WHO’s R&D Blueprint for Epidemics team that prepared the report.
It’s important to regularly revisit these lists to account for major global changes in climate change deforestation, urbanization, international travel and more, says Malavige.
The latest effort identified risky pathogens in entire families of viruses and bacteria, which broadened its scope.
Mpox and smallpox
More than 200 scientists spent some two years evaluating evidence on 1,652 pathogen species — mostly viruses, and some bacteria — to decide which ones to include on the list.
Among the more than 30 priority pathogens are the group of coronaviruses known as Sarbecovirus, which includes SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that caused the global COVID-19 pandemic — and Merbecovirus, which includes the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
