File photo: VCG

 
To deal with possible new-arising infectious diseases, it is essential to first conduct more intensified monitoring of animals, specifically animal surveillance for novel viruses, according to a leading Chinese medical expert, who believes future pandemics are inevitable.

"If animal surveillance for novel viruses is not conducted, it will be challenging to identify potential 'invaders.' Also, it is necessary to isolate novel animal coronaviruses to provide information for the design of diagnostics and symptom identification, and to develop rapid testing methods for these animal viruses," said University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung, who is also a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (Basic Medicine).

On the sidelines of 2023 Shanghai Medical Forum, which was organized by Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University with the aim of enhancing exchanges with world-class universities, Yuen told media that to address newly emerging infectious diseases, it is essential to promptly initiate research and development of mucosal vaccines and broad-spectrum antiviral drugs. Establishing a real-time epidemic reporting system is also important.

"In the post-pandemic era, people will naturally focus on other matters, such as the economy, and will not dwell on events that have not occurred," said Yuen, expressing his concern that history may repeat itself.

In a newspaper opinion piece on Wednesday, Yuen and his colleagues David Lung and Kelvin Chiu warned that COVID-19 will not be the last global outbreak, saying the next pandemic will likely be caused by avian or swine flu viruses, RTHK reported.

"Other than the coronavirus, influenza has the greatest potential to cause a pandemic. The next pandemic may be caused by avian and swine influenza viruses, with DNA shuffling possibly leading to serious infections, and even resistance to influenza drugs and seasonal flu vaccines," they wrote.

Yuen also proposed to promote the use of reusable and eco-friendly masks and gloves to block virus transmission. As there were some countries and regions which suffered a shortfall in healthcare workers when fighting against the COVID-19, Yuen said such phenomenon was common worldwide and the solving of it can be challenging because the healthcare work is very demanding but in many cases, the income is not high, especially in professions like nursing and caregiving.

According to the website of Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, Yuen made his mark in 2003 when the outbreak of SARS gripped the globe as he played a key role in the discovery of the agent causing SARS. Throughout the years, Yuen has led his team in the discovery of over 50 novel disease agents, including the novel Human Coronavirus HKU1, the bat SARS coronavirus, and bat coronavirus HKU2 to 24.