Health officials have published a new list of viruses and bacteria they say pose the greatest threat to public health.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says its “priority pathogen” guide is designed to help scientists and researchers focus their efforts and bolster preparedness for any future pandemic.
The list of 24 pathogen families is the first to consider global health threats, as well as threats specific to the UK population, and it is hoped it will speed up the development of vaccines.
The viral pathogen families classed as high risk for both epidemics and pandemics include: coronaviridae, which includes COVID-19; orthomyxoviridae, which includes avian influenza; and paramyxoviridae, which causes the Nipah virus.
Dr Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer for UKHSA, said: “We live at the time of increasing challenges and increasing risks from infectious diseases.
“But at the same time we have got, thanks to scientific advancement, better tools than we’ve ever had to protect health against these threats.”
“Having said that there are areas where we still need more or better diagnostics, vaccines and medicines and therapeutics, and this tool has been designed to help inform the work of government research funders, but also our partners in industry and academia who are critical to the development of these tools that we so desperately need.”
Experts assessed the pandemic and epidemic potential of each viral family in order to create the tool, looking at the severity of disease, routes of transmission and previous pandemics among known pathogens in the family.
Each group was then given a rating of high, medium or low risk based on the opinions of scientists at UKHSA.
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The tool also includes information on whether the risk is sensitive to climate change, if vaccines are available and if human-to-human transmission is likely, as well as their resistance to drugs like antibiotics.
Dr Oliver said: “We haven’t ranked because the situation is constantly evolving, as you can imagine, and one of the things that we do in the UKHSA is undertake surveillance and monitor threats.”
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She added: “This is an important lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, is that it is really important that we consider the breadth of potential threats to health, and that we continue to monitor the situation and flexibly respond to those.
“So our approach is very much to increase our resilience against all families of concern and to work with partners to advance resilience across all of these.”