4 killer viruses like Ebola will kill 12 times more people by 2050, experts warn

DEADLY viruses that are spread from animals to humans are increasing exponentially, scientists warn.

Diseases like Ebola and Marburg virus are set to kill 12 times as many people in 2050 as they did in 2020, US researchers found.

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They found “spillover events” of four viruses, including Nipah virus and SARS, have increased at a faster rate over the last 60 years.

Dr Amanda Meadows, of Ginkgo Bioworks, said: “If these rates of increase continue, we would expect the analysed pathogens to cause four times the number of spillover events.

“The ultimate package of measures to support global prevention, preparedness, and resilience is not yet clear. 

“What is clear, however, from the historical trends, is that urgent action is needed to address a large and growing risk to global health.”

Ebola and Marburg virus are deadly diseases that are caused by filoviruses, which can be harboured by fruit bats and monkeys.

Outbreaks are typically found in African countries but have been seen in Europe and the United States.

SARS coronavirus 1 is a virus that spread to more than two dozen countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia before the global outbreak of 2003 was contained.

It can also be carried by bats, as well as civets, which are native to India and southeast Asia.

Nipah virus is also spread by fruit bats and outbreaks have been seen in northeast Africa and Southeast Asia.

And Machupo virus, which causes Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, originated in the large vesper mouse, which is indigenous to northern Bolivia.

The study, published in BMJ Global Health, looked at rates of all four viruses to predict how many future spillover events will occur.

Researchers looked at over 3,150 outbreaks and epidemics between 1963 and 2019 to analyse trends in deaths.

They identified a total of 75 spillover events occurring in 24 countries during this period. 

These caused a total of 17,232 deaths, of which 15,771 in 40 outbreaks — mostly in Africa — were caused by Ebola or Marburg virus.