PolitiFact – Disease X isn’t being planned at World Economic Forum meeting

A World Economic Forum panel discussion about a so-called “Disease X” has revived social media conspiracy theories that a new pandemic is being planned.

“Another potential vaccine and disease is apparently coming. Called Disease X,” read a caption on a Jan. 11 Instagram post.

It shared an image from a World Economic Forum post that described a Jan. 17 session about preparing healthcare systems for an unknown Disease X at the organization’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

A Jan. 17 Instagram post about the event had an image with words that said, “If we just call it X no one will notice.” The post’s caption said, “Remember… they always tell us what’s coming,” with a winking emoji. The post was removed before this story published. 

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

We found other recent posts making similar claims about Disease X, a term adopted by the World Health Organization several years ago as a placeholder for an unknown disease that could emerge. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones baselessly said in a video that Disease X is a laboratory-created virus. 

We debunked a similar claim in August that said Disease X was “the next plandemic,” a reference to a 2020 documentary of false conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. And another false claim this week tied a potential measles exposure at two Washington, D.C.-area airports to Disease X.

The claims both mislead about what Disease X means and baselessly imply that world leaders are meeting in Davos to concoct a new pandemic.

The World Economic Forum panel discussion included Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the inspector general of the World Health Organization, and other global health care leaders from both public and private organizations.

Tedros sought to clarify what Disease X is because, he said, it was “attracting a lot of attention” on social media.

Preparing for Disease X discussion at the World Economic Forum, Jan. 17, 2024

Disease X is not an actual disease, but a hypothetical one. It’s a term the WHO said “represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.” 

Disease X is not a new term either, said Tedros. The WHO since 2015 has annually listed pathogens to prioritize for research and development, and first added Disease X to it in 2018.

Tedros cited the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of how preparation for an unknown disease could have helped. Many people died because of overwhelmed hospitals and lack of oxygen supplies, he said.

“So how can you have a (health) system that can expand when the need comes?” he said. “You don’t need to know the disease.”

Social media posts claimed that a World Economic Forum panel discussion about Disease X is evidence that global leaders are planning a new pandemic. But the posts are wrong about Disease X, a term coined to refer to a hypothetical pathogen that could start a global pandemic. 

Scientists have been studying ways to better prepare and respond to the sudden rise of a deadly pathogen, but it doesn’t mean one is being planned. We rate the claims False.