UK Porton Down Lab Starts Work on New Pandemic: ‘Disease X’

British scientists begin work to protect against a new pandemic caused by “disease X”. The work is being done at the notorious Porton Down High Security Government Laboratory Complex in Wiltshire.

British scientists have begun developing vaccines as insurance against a new pandemic caused by an unknown “disease X”, reports Sky News.

The work is being carried out at Porton Down, a government high-security laboratory complex in Wiltshire, by a team of more than 200 scientists.

Scientists have compiled a list of dangerous animal viruses that can infect humans and in the future can quickly spread around the world. Which one will break through and cause the next pandemic is unknown, which is why the coming disease is only called “Disease X”.

Sky News correspondents were escorted around the facility, run by the UK Health Security Agency, to showcase the work being done in the highly isolated laboratories.

Professor Jenny Harris, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told Sky News: “What we’re trying to do here is make sure we’re prepared so that if we have a new disease X, a new pathogen, we’ll do as much of this work as possible in advance. Hopefully we can prevent a pandemic. But if we can’t and we have to respond, then we’ve already started developing vaccines and therapeutics to deal with it.”

The Vaccine Development and Evaluation Center at Porton Down has been expanded to take on this work, Sky News notes. It initially focused on COVID and testing the efficacy of vaccines against new variants.

But the center’s scientists are currently monitoring several high-risk pathogens, including avian flu, monkeypox and hantavirus, a disease spread by rodents.

One early success was the world’s first vaccine against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne disease with a 30% fatality rate.

Early-stage clinical trials have just begun and 24 volunteers are expected to test the drug.

The disease is becoming more common in Europe as global temperatures rise and some travelers have returned to the UK with the infection.

Professor Harris emphasizes that climate change and population migration increase the likelihood of a new pandemic. “What we are seeing is a growing risk around the world,” she said.

“Part of this is due to factors like urbanization where the virus can be transmitted to people living nearby, as we saw with bird flu,” says Jenny Harris. “And part of it is due to climate change, when such creatures “like ticks and mosquitoes moving to where it used to be cold and now it’s getting warmer. So it’s a growing risk program. But it’s a case where we can actively use our science to prevent human impact.”

Bird flu is currently considered the most likely threat of a pandemic, Sky News points out.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reports that at least 30,000 seabirds have died across the UK this summer as a more dangerous strain of the H5N1 virus spread around the world. There is also evidence of limited distribution in some mammals. And four people working in poultry farms in the UK also tested positive, but were only slightly affected.

The UKHSA has begun monitoring people in close contact with the birds in case the virus can spread without causing symptoms.

The agency is participating in a global effort to develop a vaccine within 100 days of a new pathogen being recognized as having pandemic potential.

“Historically, that would be unheard of,” says Prof Harris. “Usually it takes five or 10 years. For COVID, it was about 360 days. So that’s really high ambition. But for some viruses, it’s definitely possible.”