[Le 1er mars s’est ouvert le One Forest Summit de Libreville, au Gabon, avec l’objectif de préserver les forêts tropicales]
Today, the Covid-19 has almost disappeared from our media radars. The pandemic is not over for all that, the virus at its origin having settled in our daily lives. But the memory of this episode which caused colossal suffering, loss of human life and economic damage is still vivid for many. Before we forget, policies and resources must be redirected to prevent new pandemics, the risk of which continues to grow.
Covid-19 was a global shock and surprised many of us. Yet this type of pandemic was predictable. The names of Ebola, Zika, Chikungunya, bird flu, Nipah or coronavirus have become familiar. Before Covid-19, there were already three times more outbreaks of infectious diseases notified than in the 1980s. If we add to this observation global connectivity, which is also in full expansion, all the factors are present to favor the appearance of new pandemics in the coming years.
We should be better prepared to face the next emergences provided we remain on our guard. The experience acquired on the different responses (control measures, containment, accelerated procedures for the development of vaccines, therapies, risk communication, modeling and decision support, etc.) is invaluable.
Hundreds of thousands of unidentified viruses
Combined with public health tools deployed more quickly, this strategy should make it possible to better respond to these future crises. However, the slow and confused response to the recent spread of ‘mpox’ (the new name for ‘monkeypox’, monkeypox) does not bode well. The risks of a pandemic remain high, and it is between crises that we must learn how to better prevent future pandemics.
It is possible to prepare against specific threats, but the stakes are quite different when faced with unknown adversaries who are very numerous. Several hundreds of thousands of still unidentified viruses could affect humans tomorrow. It is therefore crucial to combine a preparedness approach with a prevention approach that would be targeted, not on each pathogenic agent with pandemic potential, but on the factors at the origin of their emergence.
To prevent these emergences, it is therefore necessary to first understand the characteristics of these emerging pathogens as well as the factors associated with them. And the numbers are clear: 75% of emerging diseases are zoonoses, that is to say diseases caused by viruses, bacteria or parasites that are transmitted from animals to humans. Ebola virus disease, Lyme disease, pandemic flu or AIDS: all these diseases have pathogens of animal origin in common.
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