'Disease X' explained as doctor breaks down 'terrifying' term

Health experts have been sounding the alarm over a concept being referred to as 'Disease X', which they believe could tear its way through the population someday.

Among those to speak out is Dr Oscar Duke, a top TV medic who regularly makes appearances on early-morning talk-show BBC's Morning Live.

During a recent appearance on the show, the expert discussed the meaning of the 'terrifying' term.

The segment began with host Gaby Roslin asking Dr Duke about a recent news story, explaining: "I’ve got this headline here: 'Pandemic 2026 warning: FOUR diseases doctors most worried about after UK outbreaks.' I've seen these headlines popping up.

"I’d imagine a lot of people would be quite concerned. It does sound quite scary when you see something like that. What do you make of it?"

The Covid-19 pandemic broke out in 2020 (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Though Dr Duke agreed that the notion of another pandemic - less than six years on from the globe-shaking Covid-19 outbreak - is something to be afraid of, he claimed health experts are more than prepared.

In fact, he revealed that they have a term for the notion of a possible future pandemic in general, 'Disease X'.

"So, you know, I think the first thing is to be reassured: you know, that we’re not saying that there's a brand-new pandemic coming, but of course inevitably we will, over time, have these sorts of diseases that come along," Dr Duke continued.

Discussing the supposed 'four' illnesses referenced in the article up for discussion, he went on to say: "So, flu and super flu: more cases of flu this time of year, always lots of cold and flu anyway. You see a lot of this stuff around on social media, don't you?

Dr Oscar Duke spoke about the supposed 'four' future outbreaks discussed in the article (Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

"You know, all the cases of flu that are going into hospital, it's really super busy at these times. And yes, that is true, so we talk about things like flu jabs to help to prevent that, that's really important."

He added: "Monkeypox, or what's now known as M-pox, has also been listed on the conditions here. Rubella from a reduction in uptake of MMR vaccines in children - so really important to make sure that your children are vaccinated to prevent them from getting these sorts of infections."

Then, moving onto 'Disease X', Dr Duke emphasised: "This is the sort of future pandemic, and I think understanding this is quite important: this is like a placeholder that the World Health Organization [WHO] has created, this term, Disease X.

"It's not a disease that we know what it is, we don't - it's not a particular virus or any particular pathogen."

On the phrasing, the medic continued: "This is just a placeholder for the disease that might cause a future pandemic to help encourage research and development and to protect us in the future from further pandemics."

Dr Duke described the term as something of a 'placeholder' (Getty Stock Image)

Dr Duke isn't the only expert to discuss the potential wrath of 'Disease X', with senior WHO figure Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo telling listeners of the company's 2024 podcast that there's no reason to panic yet.

"I think the first thing I want to clarify today is that there is no virus or bacteria circulating right now that is called Disease X and is causing disease," she told host Vismita Gupta-Smith at the time. "We are preparing for the future.

"So we are talking about a hypothetical disease and to give a name the scientists call it Disease X to prepare for the hypothetical virus or bacteria that in the future can cause large outbreaks or epidemics or pandemics.

"There are many viruses and bacteria that can infect animals, including humans. For a few we already have vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. We know what are the viruses that we need to be alert to, we know what are the bacteria we need to be alert to, but there are many thousands of them."

Henao-Restrepo went on to explain: "So we need to have a simplified way to refer to them without knowing which one will cause the next pandemic.

"And we call it Pathogen X."