'Disease X' Sparks Fears as New Virus Could 'Wipe Out' Society With 'High Mortality Rate' — 'Will Make Covid Pandemic Look Mild'
A new, deadly virus may shut down the world again.
Sept. 23 2025, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill in 2020, changing the way we all live, but now experts fear a new, deadlier virus may be on the way, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
A new documentary, titled Disease X: Hunting the Next Pandemic, focuses on the potential virus that may be lurking around the corner
What Is 'Disease X'?
COVID-19 shut down the world, but another virus may be looming.
In the BBC2 doc, Dr Chris Van Tulleken joins a daily briefing at the WHO's Geneva headquarters, where officials receive updates from health experts on emerging disease outbreaks around the world.
While several outbreaks have occurred, including the outbreak of Avian Flu in Vietnam, where 65 confirmed cases were fatal, and multiple instances of Yellow Fever reported in several countries, Dr Margaret Harris at the WHO warned of an even more disturbing virus.
She explained: "Ebola, Marburg, influenza, all the coronaviruses, but probably most importantly, there's Disease X."
"Disease X" was coined in 2018 to describe an unidentified pathogen possessing the potential to trigger a huge global pandemic, just like COVID-19 did.
The Bird Flu Takeover?
The World Health Organization is said to be keeping an eye on a potential 'disease x.'
According to Dr. Harris, the next "Disease X" could originate from anywhere and potentially result in a huge number of deaths. "What could result could make the Covid-19 pandemic look mild," she warned.
However, the world also has to fear bacterial and fungal infections, which can also lead to fatalities.
"It might be a modified, mutated version of something that we know about quite well, or it could be a completely new pathogen – one that we've never even imagined," Tulleken explained, noting the increasing risk of diseases jumping from animals to humans.
Previously, the H5N1 Bird flu took over Texas ranches' cow population, and also made its way to California, which led Governor Newsom to declare a state of emergency.
Governor Newsom Declares A State Of Emergency
In late 2024, Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency in California over the Bird Flu.
Tulleken warned Bird flu is now "closer to pandemic potential than it's ever been before."
He explained: "The best-case scenario for an H5N1 pandemic is that it mutates into a harmless disease. The worst case is for it to mutate into something highly lethal and very contagious."
Newsom's decision came after an outbreak of the virus among dairy cows in Southern California farms. After first being reported in other states, including Texas and Kansas, bird flu was confirmed in cattle across 16 states, according to the CDC at the time.
Trump's Bumbling Move
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In January, President Trump pulled the US out of WHO over their 'mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.'
Meanwhile, America may not be too equipped to deal with a pandemic this time around as President Trump withdrew the country from the World Health Organization earlier this year.
A statement from the White House read: "The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states."
They also claimed WHO "continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments."
