Four viruses, such as chickenpox, rubella, avian influenza and Oropouche fever, could lead to the emergence of an unknown pathogen “X,” which could cause a new large-scale pandemic as early as 2026, according to the report. aif.ru related to Daily Star.
As the newspaper writes, experts link this threat to a significant decrease in the level of vaccination of the population against these diseases and to the growing resistance of the virus itself.
Michael Head, a global health researcher at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton in the UK, noted that the number of infections worldwide is currently increasing.
“Outbreaks of chickenpox continue to occur in many countries around the world, including in Europe, such as Spain,” Head said.
New strains are emerging and it is becoming increasingly clear that a virus once thought to be extremely rare is now spreading around the world, he said.
Head also expressed concern that rubella, once thought to have been eliminated, could return as use of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, has hit a 15-year low.
Ed Hutchinson, professor of molecular and cellular virology at the University of Glasgow, added that the avian influenza (H5N1) virus is also actively mutating. It can now be transmitted from birds to mammals such as cows, meaning it can potentially spread through milk.
He emphasized that as long as the H5N1 virus continues to circulate and infect humans, it will pose a risk of a pandemic. According to him, in the event of such an outbreak, humanity will have antiviral drugs and the ability to develop vaccines against new strains, but a new flu pandemic will still become a serious problem.
However, Oropush virus, transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, usually shows symptoms within 8 days after the bite and has a clinical picture similar to dengue fever and malaria virus.
Professor Jackson, an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia, said: “In 2026, the Oropusha epidemic will likely continue to affect travelers in the Americas. The blood-sucking mosquito that transmits the virus is found throughout North and South America, including the southeastern United States. The distribution of the virus may continue to expand.”
The author of the document draws attention to the fact that each of these diseases theoretically has the potential to lead to the emergence of virus “X”, a previously unknown strain.
Previously, it was reported that in the Italian commune of Castiglion Fiorentino, since the beginning of 2026, there have been at least 14 people died from an unknown epidemic. It was clarified that such statistics were not observed in the commune even during the coronavirus epidemic. By comparison, 133 people died in Castiglion Fiorentino in all of 2025.
