WHO’s Helen Clark has warned that ongoing hantavirus and ebolavirus outbreaks highlight the world’s lack of preparedness for the next pandemic.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) top official has warned that ongoing hantavirus and ebolavirus outbreaks show that the world is not prepared for a pandemic.
As the ship began its voyage from Argentina, where the strain is endemic, Clark noted that onboard medical personnel should have been alert to the symptoms.
Clark said that shipboard medical protocols should reflect the endemic disease landscape of their departure ports.
When it was finally identified as the rare Bundibugyo strain, Africa CDC and the WHO alerted the world promptly,” Clark said.
WHO’s Helen Clark has warned that ongoing hantavirus and ebolavirus outbreaks highlight the world’s lack of preparedness for the next pandemic. She flagged that health systems that fail to address known endemic risks will be ill-equipped to detect novel pathogens that could trigger future global crises.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) top official has warned that ongoing hantavirus and ebolavirus outbreaks show that the world is not prepared for a pandemic.
In an article for The Guardian, Helen Clark warned that health systems that fail to address known endemic risks will be ill-equipped to detect novel pathogens that could trigger future global crises.
Clark said authorities failed to detect hantavirus on the MV Hondius and ebolavirus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), allowing the diseases to circulate undetected for weeks. By the time they responded, dozens of people had died.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
In the hantavirus outbreak on MV Hondius, the Andes strain of the virus was involved. As the ship began its voyage from Argentina, where the strain is endemic, Clark noted that onboard medical personnel should have been alert to the symptoms. But they failed to detect the infection, allowing the virus to circulate undetected for weeks.
ALSO READ: Hantavirus not a pandemic risk, but ‘Disease X’ could catch world unprepared
In the ebolavirus outbreak in the DRC, at least eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths have been reported in Ituri province. Again, the virus circulated undetected for weeks as authorities failed to identify the Bundibugyo strain after tests returned negative for the more common Zaire strain of the virus.
In both cases, the failure to detect infections proved to be a fatal delay.
If you fail to detect known viruses, how will you detect new ones?
Clark warned that failing to detect haemorrhagic fevers or consider endemic risks at points of departure would leave health systems blind to something far more dangerous — a novel pathogen that has quietly acquired the capacity for wider spread and could trigger a pandemic.
The next disease to exploit these weaknesses may not give the world weeks to understand what is happening, but only a matter of days, warned Clark, Co-chair of the WHO’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and a former Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2009).
In the DRC, when tests for the Zaire strain returned negative, suspected cases were apparently set aside and authorities moved on. But they should not have ruled out ebolavirus in a country with a long and painful history of the disease until it was definitively excluded, according to Clark.
ALSO READ — ‘Nobody is ready’: Experts warn world is unprepared for Disease X, hasn’t learnt lessons from Covid-19
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Similarly, when the first passenger fell ill on the cruise departing Argentina, hantavirus should have been considered as the Andes strain is native to the region. Clark said that shipboard medical protocols should reflect the endemic disease landscape of their departure ports.
“Together they expose a gap not in our ability to respond, but in our willingness to anticipate, prevent and use precaution. As it is endemic in the DRC, ebola is usually picked up early — even one or two deaths have been notified to the WHO. This outbreak had been spreading for weeks before confirmation. When it was finally identified as the rare Bundibugyo strain, Africa CDC and the WHO alerted the world promptly,” Clark said.
)
