Scientists Warn of Deadly Virus Threat Amid UK's Pandemic Preparations
London
15-June-2023

Photo: IANS
Even as the UK government attempts to prepare for new pandemics, the country's scientists have warned about a new 'deadly virus' that kills nearly every second patient.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), CCHF has a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent and is difficult to prevent or treat as it spreads by ticks or animal tissue.
It is also on the WHO's list of "priority" diseases, and it's found in eastern Europe and now France.
The scientists noted that CCHF infections may not be picked up by doctors in the NHS, as previously they hadn't been expected, the scientists informed the Committee.
Prof James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, told the committee that it was "highly likely" that CCHF would reach the UK at some point but it is difficult to know which viruses will arrive and when, the report said.
"We don't know what is going to arrive until it does.
Watch This TWL Video
"Some tick-borne infections, so Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, are highly likely to spread in the UK through our ticks at some point," he was quoted as saying.
Further, the scientists noted that warmer weather in the UK will also pave the way for other diseases including Rift Valley fever, which has a severe strain that is deadly for humans, Zika, and abreakbone' fever.
There was a "slow march north" of diseases, Professor Bryan Charleston, Director of the Pirbright Institute, was quoted as saying.
According to Professor Sir Peter Horby, Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University, climate change was mixing up the map of where to find certain illnesses.
"Dengue, which is classically a South American, South East Asian disease and is hyperendemic in those countries (has) spread North, you're now seeing transmission in the Mediterranean,"he said. - IANS
More Headlines
New Kerala Guv Strikes Cordial Tone, Hosts CM Vijayan And FM Sitharaman In Delhi
Digital Payments Surge in India: 18,120 Crore Transactions in FY24-25
Weather Dept Predicts Heavy Rains In Several TN Districts
Chitra Subramaniam’s Book Boforsgate Exposes Arms Trade, Corruption, and Political Intrigue
Israeli Tourist Gang-Rape Case: Third Accused Nabbed in Chennai
New Kerala Guv Strikes Cordial Tone, Hosts CM Vijayan And FM Sitharaman In Delhi
Digital Payments Surge in India: 18,120 Crore Transactions in FY24-25
Weather Dept Predicts Heavy Rains In Several TN Districts
Chitra Subramaniam’s Book Boforsgate Exposes Arms Trade, Corruption, and Political Intrigue
Israeli Tourist Gang-Rape Case: Third Accused Nabbed in Chennai