While ‘Disease X’ is a hypothetical placeholder virus that has not yet been formed, scientists say it could be 20 times deadlier than COVID. AP. In preparation for the next outbreak, ...

“Disease X is a term that was coined by WHO,” Marion Koopmans, a member of WHO’s emergency committee, and head of viroscience at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, told Fox News.

Some public health experts believe the next Disease X will be zoonotic, meaning it will originate in wild or domestic animals, then spill over to infect humans. Ebola, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 were ...

"Disease X" has now become a rude reminder of human fragility. The World Health Organization (WHO) coined this term in 2018. Disease X, an unknown pathogen, may trigger a global pandemic.

An outbreak of a mysterious illness dubbed “Disease X" has killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), health officials say. Up to 143 people have died from the infectious disease.

Naming the theoretical ailment "Disease X" was also a bit of a public relations master move: the name is catchy, simple and could attract public attention to causes in global health.

What is the response? The WHO first classified Disease X as a “placeholder” term for a potential deadly virus in 2018. However, news of the Davos panel sparked a social media firestorm.

Disease X is a hypothetical "placeholder" virus that has not yet been formed, but scientists say it could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19. (Image: Getty Images) ...

Covid-19 was sort of the Disease X before late 2019, as the name SARS-CoV-2 didn’t even exist then. Sure, there were warnings about coronaviruses in general, especially after the Severe Acute ...

Disease X appeared in a World Health Organization (WHO) list of pathogens that could cause a public health emergency and for which there aren't adequate drugs and/or vaccines.

The term “Disease X” was introduced in 2018—before COVID—and it has even been argued that COVID should be considered the first actual Disease X.

Disease X was added to the WHO’s short list of pathogens for research in 2017 that could cause a "serious international epidemic". And while Ghebreyesus said that COVID-19 was the first ...