Scientists say which virus will cause the next pandemic

Many scientists believe that the next pandemic will be caused by the influenza virus. The Guardian writes about it, citing a survey among medical specialists.

Most of the surveyed leading experts in the field of diseases believe that the cause of the next global outbreak of a deadly infectious disease will be one of the strains of influenza virus, - writes the edition.

In particular, Jon Salmanton-Garcia from the University of Cologne points out that the influenza virus is constantly mutating, adapting to the environment, forms of treatment, becoming more aggressive and even after years of fighting it remains quite "tenacious".

Every winter the flu makes an appearance. These outbreaks can be called small pandemics. They are more or less controlled because the different strains that cause them are not virulent enough - but it won't necessarily always be like that," he warned.

Also, a large proportion of infectious disease specialists do not rule out that the next pandemic could be caused by some virus that mankind does not yet know anything about.

The next pandemic will be caused by an as yet unidentified microorganism that will appear unexpectedly, similar to the Sars-CoV-2 virus that caused Covid-19 when it started infecting people in 2019," experts do not rule out.

At the same time, about 15 per cent of those polled are confident that the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus could return to hit the world with renewed vigour.

A small part of experts called for a more careful attention to such viruses as Lassa, Nipah, Ebola and Zika.

Scientists remind that vaccines for many flu strains, including H5N1, have already been developed and are available from your doctor or pharmacy, unlike with Covid-19 when the vaccine had to be developed from scratch.

The Guardian reports that the findings of leading scientists will be presented at the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) congress in Barcelona next weekend.