The woman underwent testing for several illnesses but tested negative for every single disease.
Researchers expressed fear of the possibility that the woman is the patient zero of Disease X, the first known infection of a new pathogen that can spread fast just liked COVID-19 and has a fatality rate of 50% to 90%.
The un-identified patient reportedly recovered but the cause of her illness is still unknown.
More zoonotic Diseases could come out in the future
Given the case of the woman who tested negative for several known diseases with similar symptoms, Muyembe warned that many zoonotic diseases — those that jump from animals to humans — could come out in the future.
Zoonotic diseases such as rabies, yellow fever, brucellosis and Lyme disease have caused epidemics and pandemics in the past.
While the deadly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was discovered from a type of Chimpanzee which mutated into a fatal disease, SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — and MERS are all coronaviruses that have suddenly jumped from animals to humans.
