The World Health Organization has come up with a list of pathogens that could lead to the next pandemic. These have now grown to more than 30. The list also includes influenza A virus, dengue virus, and monkeypox virus. According to researchers, the list of ‘priority pathogens’ will help organizations to decide where to focus their efforts in developing treatments, vaccines and diagnostics.

Over 200 scientists spent nearly 2 years in order to evaluate the evidence on 1,652 pathogens species - mostly viruses and some bacteria. This was done to decide which ones need to be included on the list.

The new list has several strains of influenza A viruses, including subtype H5, which has recently caused an outbreak in the US. Five new bacterial strains have neem added, which are responsible for diseases such as cholera, plague, dysentery, diarrhea, and pneumonia.

Nipah virus is also on the list.

"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.

Two rodent viruses have also been added because they have jumped to people, with sporadic human-to-human transmission. As per the report, climate change and increased urbanization could raise the risk of these viruses transmitting to people. Many of the priority pathogens are currently confined to specific regions but have the potential to spread globally, says says Naomi Forrester-Soto, a virologist at the Pirbright Institute near Woking, UK, who also contributed to the analysis.

The priority pathogens in South-East Asia region are Vibrio cholera O139, Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1, Henipavirus nipahense, Bandavirus dabieense, Orthoflavivirus dengue and zikaense and Alphavirus chikungunya.

The WHO says, "By prioritizing research on entire pathogen families as opposed to a handful of individual pathogens, this strategy bolsters the capability to respond efficiently to unforeseen variants and unknown threats such as 'Pathogen X'.

For those who don't know, Pathogen X is a term used to denote an unidentified or unspecified pathogen, with the potential to induce a public health emergency of international concern.

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