Next ‘Great’ Pandemic Could Be Most Infectious and Deadliest Disease Known to Mankind, Scientists Warn

The next pandemic, the “Big One,” may continue to “simmer in the background,” waiting to unleash the most contagious and deadly diseases known to mankind.

The paramyxovirus family includes more than 75 viruses, including mumps, measles and respiratory infections, and was added to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ list of pandemic pathogens in October.

One of the viruses, Nipah virus, can infect cells with receptors that regulate what goes into or out of the cells that line the central nervous system and vital organs.

This variant has a fatality rate of up to 75 percent compared to that of Covid, which is well below one percent.

Scientists note that, unlike the flu and Covid-19, paramyxoviruses do not seem to mutate as they spread, but have “become very good at transmitting between people.”

“Imagine if a paramyxovirus emerged that was as contagious as measles and as deadly as Nipah,” Michael Norris, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, said in a statement.

It’s not hard to imagine this scenario: the 2011 film Contagion was based on exactly this type of imaginary paramyxovirus.

Starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet, a woman returns home from a business trip in Hong Kong and brings with her a deadly microbe that has caused a global pandemic: the disease was the Nipah virus.

“Flu has been declared a fatality,” Benhur Lee, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told The Atlantic.

Lee went on to explain that this is not the case with paramyxoviruses because most people infected with any of the more than 75 viruses do not survive, making it virtually impossible to develop treatments and vaccines.

Scientists note that paramyxoviruses, unlike influenza and Covid-19, are ‘rapid shape-shifters’ and do not appear to mutate as they spread, but have ‘become very good at transmitting between people’.

The paramyxovirus family includes more than 75 viruses, including mumps, measles and respiratory infections. Measles causes terrible rash (photo)

The first plague discovered in the family, called round plague, was identified in 1902.

Rinderpest or Rinderpest is an infectious viral disease that equally affects ungulates.

It was the second disease to be completely eradicated in 2011, after smallpox in humans in 1980.

Although scientists have known about paramyxoviruses for more than a century, they have yet to understand how the viruses evolve into new strains and mutations used to infect humans.

For example, mumps were long thought to affect only humans and certain primates, but cases have also been identified in bats.

There is also a mystery as to how paramyxoviruses can cause minor infections in one host but kill another.

Although scientists have known about paramyxoviruses for more than a century (pictured), they have yet to understand how the viruses evolve into new species and how the mutations are adopted to infect humans.

Paul Duprex, a virologist at the University of Pittsburgh, told The Atlantic that rubulaviruses, one of the paramyxovirus subfamilies to which mumps belongs, are a concern.

Humans, monkeys, pigs and dogs are natural hosts and can be easily infected from close quarters.

And then there is measles, first documented by a Persian doctor in the 9th century.

It wasn’t until 1757 that a Scottish doctor discovered an infectious agent in the blood of patients that caused the virus.

Emmie de Wit, head of molecular pathogenesis at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, told The Atlantic that measles could eventually be eradicated, eliminating the need for vaccinations.

However, when this happened to smallpox, mpoxa seemed to take its place.

Strengthening Australia’s Pandemic Preparedness report, published in 2022, looks at paramyxoviruses: “As the world increasingly understands these links between human, animal, plant and environmental health, viruses are moving at an ‘alarming rate’ from animals to people.”

“In addition to the known viruses, an average of two new viruses emerge in humans each year, and the proportion leading to major outbreaks is increasing.”

“Many of these viruses have pandemic potential—the potential to spread across multiple continents.”