Lassa fever, eight other disease pose public health risk – WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified Lassa Fever and other eight urgency diseases that pose a public health risk because of their epidemic potential and for which there are no, or insufficient, countermeasures.
The agency on Tuesday published the 2018 annual review of the Blueprint list of priority diseases for the purpose of Research and Development (R&D).
Experts consider that given their potential to cause a public health emergency and the absence of efficacious drugs and/or vaccines, there is an urgent need for accelerated research and development for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Nipah and henipaviral diseases, Rift Valley fever (RVF), Zika and Disease X.
“Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease, and so the R&D Blueprint explicitly seeks to enable cross-cutting R&D preparedness that is also relevant for an unknown “Disease X” as far as possible” say experts.
The agency stated that the R&D Blueprint is a special tool for determining which diseases and pathogens to prioritize for research and development in public health emergency contexts.
“This tool seeks to identify those diseases that pose a public health risk because of their epidemic potential and for which there are no, or insufficient, countermeasures. The diseases identified through this process are the focus of the work of R& D Blueprint.
The experts said that for many of the diseases discussed, as well as many other diseases with the potential to cause a public health emergency, there is a need for better diagnostics.
“Existing drugs and vaccines need further improvement for several of the diseases considered but not included in the priority list. Any type of pathogen could be prioritised under the Blueprint, not only viruses.
“There is a need to assess the value, where possible, of developing countermeasures for multiple diseases or for families of pathogens” say experts.
According to the experts, the impact of environmental issues on diseases with the potential to cause public health emergencies was discussed. This may need to be considered as part of future reviews.
“The importance of the diseases discussed was considered for special populations, such as refugees, internally displaced populations, and victims of disasters.
The value of a One Health approach was stressed, including a parallel prioritization processes for animal health. Such an effort would support research and development to prevent and control animal diseases minimising spill-over and enhancing food security. The possible utility of animal vaccines for preventing public health emergencies was also noted.
Also there are concerted efforts to address anti-microbial resistance through specific international initiatives. The possibility was not excluded that, in the future, a resistant pathogen might emerge and appropriately be prioritized.