Providing Public Perspective on Ebola, Pandemic Flu and Disease “X.” IDSA Members in the Media

Contagion Live spoke with incoming vice-chair of IDSA’s Global Health Committee Krutika Kuppalli, MD, about the North Kivu Province Ebola outbreak and what makes it distinct from the West African outbreak, as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo hits its one-year mark.

“The greatest difference in the current DRC outbreak compared to the West African outbreak is the insecurity and targeted violence at response teams and facilities,” Dr. Kuppalli said. “One of the turning points in this outbreak was in September 2018 when 21 civilians were attacked and killed in Beni by ADF [Allied Democratic Forces]. This led to a halt in Ebola-related activities, allowing for potential cases and contacts to travel unmonitored through the region.”

Dr. Kuppalli also spoke with S&P Global News on the worry of a potential worldwide influenza pandemic or “disease X.” While viruses like Ebola and pandemic flu rank high among the diseases the infectious disease community is most concerned about, more worrisome is the unknown, what we call disease X," Dr. Kuppalli stated. “There are about 167 million unknown viruses on the planet, with an estimated 827,000 having the capacity to infect humans. That's why it's important to invest in the scientific community and healthcare infrastructure and research so we can continue to identify the pathogens and continue to develop therapeutics for those pathogens and be ready," she said.

These are just two of the news pieces that IDSA and our member spokespersons contributed to, in addition to others in the pipeline. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to see the latest news and opinion pieces featuring IDSA, HIVMA and our members.