Health and biosecurity

Worldwide spread of a respiratory virus to which most people have little immunity, overwhelming health systems and disrupting economies.

Also: novel virus pandemic, pandemic influenza

Yearly waves of influenza that fill clinics and hospitals and kill mainly the elderly and the frail.

Also: flu season

Influenza viruses from birds or pigs infecting people, with the risk of adapting to spread from person to person.

Also: avian influenza in people, swine influenza

An outbreak of a severe or novel coronavirus with person-to-person spread and a risk of severe respiratory illness.

Also: SARS-type outbreak, MERS-type outbreak, COVID-type outbreak

Rising or drug-resistant tuberculosis, a slowly spreading airborne bacterial disease, often in crowded or poor settings.

Also: drug-resistant tuberculosis

Clusters of meningitis from bacteria spread by close contact, which kills quickly without treatment and recurs in dry-season belts.

Also: meningococcal outbreak

Spread of the highly contagious measles virus among under-vaccinated groups, with complications and deaths in children.

Transmission of poliovirus, including vaccine-derived strains, causing paralysis where immunisation is low.

Also: poliovirus

Resurgence of toxin-mediated diphtheria or epidemic whooping cough, most dangerous to infants, where immunity has lapsed.

Also: diphtheria, pertussis

An outbreak of another disease that vaccines prevent, such as mumps, rubella or varicella, after an immunisation gap.

Also: mumps, rubella, chickenpox

Acute watery diarrhoea from Vibrio cholerae in contaminated water, killing within hours without rehydration.

Systemic Salmonella infection from contaminated food and water, endemic where sanitation is poor.

Bloody diarrhoea from Shigella spreading through contaminated water, food and close contact.

Rotavirus, norovirus and similar viruses causing vomiting and diarrhoea, especially in children, institutions and camps.

Also: rotavirus, norovirus

Hepatitis A or E virus spreading through contaminated water and food, often after floods or in displacement camps.

Also: hepatitis A, hepatitis E

A cluster of illness traced to a common contaminated food, which can span regions through distribution networks.

Also: food poisoning outbreak, listeria, salmonella, E. coli outbreak

A cluster of illness from drinking or contact with contaminated water, often after floods, treatment failure or mains breaks.

Also: cryptosporidium outbreak, drinking water outbreak

Mosquito-borne dengue virus waves in warm, urban areas, with a risk of severe illness on repeat infection.

Viruses such as chikungunya and Zika spreading where Aedes mosquitoes breed, causing joint pain and birth defects.

A mosquito-borne haemorrhagic virus, preventable by vaccination, that flares in forest and urban cycles.

Bird-reservoir viruses, such as West Nile, spread by Culex mosquitoes and causing neurological disease in late summer.

Rising malaria transmission after climate shifts, conflict, funding gaps or drug and insecticide resistance.

Also: malaria

A flea-borne bacterial disease from rodent reservoirs, bubonic or pneumonic, lethal without antibiotics.

Sleeping sickness or Chagas disease carried by tsetse flies or triatomine bugs, with an animal form that kills livestock.

Also: sleeping sickness, Chagas disease

Rising Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis and related infections as ticks spread into new areas.

Also: Lyme disease

Resurgence of parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases of poverty, such as leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis and leprosy, in neglected populations.

Also: leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, leprosy

Outbreaks of insect-borne viruses that were rare or local and are now spreading to new populations, often with little testing and no vaccine.

Also: Oropouche outbreak, novel mosquito-borne virus, midge-borne virus outbreak

Highly lethal filovirus outbreaks spread by body fluids and in care settings, needing isolation and rapid contact tracing.

Also: Ebola, Marburg

A rodent-borne arenavirus fever, seasonal in West Africa, spread by contaminated food and in health facilities.

A tick-borne virus reaching farmers, abattoir workers and health staff through livestock and body fluids.

Sustained HIV transmission that, untreated, destroys immunity, driven by gaps in access, stigma and exclusion of key populations.

Also: AIDS

Long-term blood-borne hepatitis infections that cause liver cancer and failure, spread through unsafe injections, transfusions and birth.

Rising syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia, including drug-resistant strains, when testing and prevention lapse.

Also: syphilis, gonorrhoea

A pathogen crossing from animals to people, through wildlife trade, farming, hunting or habitat change, with the potential to establish human transmission.

Also: emerging zoonosis, Q fever, cysticercosis

A spore-forming bacterial disease of livestock and wildlife that infects people through contact with carcasses, hides and meat.

A bacterial infection passed from livestock to people through raw milk and animal contact, causing long fevers.

A fatal viral disease spread by bites from infected dogs and wildlife, preventable by vaccinating animals and giving post-exposure care.

A rodent-urine bacterial infection spreading in floodwater and wet farmland, causing fever and kidney and liver failure.

A poxvirus passing from animals to people and then by close contact, with painful lesions and added risk for the immunocompromised.

A mosquito- and contact-borne virus causing livestock abortion storms and human fever after heavy rain in dry regions.

Bat-borne viruses that jump to people via contaminated food or animals and cause deadly brain infections.

Also: Nipah

A cluster of fatal, untreatable brain diseases caused by misfolded proteins, linked to food, medical procedures or animal feed.

Also: mad cow disease

Return of an eradicated, highly lethal poxvirus from a laboratory or a deliberate release into a population with no immunity.

African or classical swine fever sweeping pig herds, with mass culls, trade bans and little or no treatment.

Also: African swine fever, classical swine fever

A highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals that halts livestock trade and forces culls.

Pleuropneumonia or plague outbreaks among cattle, goats and sheep that kill herds and threaten pastoral livelihoods.

Also: pleuropneumonia, small ruminant plague

Insect-transmitted livestock diseases, such as lumpy skin disease, that spread with biting flies and seasonal climate.

Also: lumpy skin disease

Newcastle disease or avian influenza sweeping poultry flocks, with mass culling and shocks to egg and meat supply.

Also: Newcastle disease, avian flu in flocks

Flesh-eating fly larvae infesting wounds of livestock, wildlife and people, spreading with animal trade and warmth.

Also: myiasis

Pathogens, such as shellfish and shrimp diseases, spreading through farmed stocks and killing them in large numbers.

Also: shrimp disease, oyster disease

An outbreak of a non-zoonotic animal disease not covered by a more specific hazard, cutting herd health and output.

Epidemics of bacterial or fungal plant disease, such as rusts and blights, that destroy yields over large areas.

Also: rust, blight, wilt

Viral, phytoplasma or viroid disease spread by insects and cuttings that stunts crops and has no cure.

Also: phytoplasma, viroid

Population explosions of insect pests that strip crops and stored grain over wide areas.

Also: armyworm, pest infestation

Dense migrating swarms of locusts that devour crops and pasture across borders.

Also: desert locust

A non-native plant, animal or microbe spreading unchecked and displacing natives, damaging farming, fisheries and ecosystems.

Also: invasive weed, alien species

Spread of microbes that no longer respond to medicines, making routine infections and surgery dangerous.

Also: drug-resistant infection, superbug

Intentional or accidental release of a pathogen or toxin, as a weapon or from a research, vaccine or production setting.

Also: bioterrorism, laboratory escape

Bites from venomous snakes that kill or maim farm workers and children where antivenom and transport are scarce, and rise when floods push snakes into homes.

Also: snake bite

Medical products of poor quality or deliberately fake that fail to treat illness, cause poisoning and drive drug resistance.

Also: counterfeit medicine

Mass poisoning from drinks adulterated with methanol or other toxic industrial alcohols.

Also: methanol poisoning

Waves of deaths from opioids and other addictive substances, driven by potent synthetics and gaps in treatment.

Also: opioid crisis

A rise in heatstroke, dehydration and heat-worsened heart, lung and kidney illness during hot spells, overwhelming emergency care and killing older and isolated people.

Also: heatstroke surge, heat exhaustion, heat-related deaths

A rise in hypothermia, heart attacks, strokes and respiratory illness during cold spells, worst among people in poorly heated homes or without shelter.

Also: hypothermia, excess winter deaths

Spread of mosquitoes, ticks and other disease carriers into higher latitudes and altitudes as climate warms and trade moves them, exposing new populations to infection.

Also: invasive mosquito spread, tick range expansion, vector shift to higher latitudes

Longer and stronger pollen seasons and spread of allergenic plants under warming and higher carbon dioxide, worsening allergy and asthma.

Also: pollen surge, hay fever season lengthening, allergenic pollen

Severe wound and gut infections from bacteria that thrive in warming coastal and brackish waters, spreading to coasts where they were once rare.

Also: vibriosis, seawater wound infection

Spread of bacterial infections that resist most or all available antibiotics, turning common infections, childbirth and surgery into life-threatening events.

Also: last-resort antibiotic resistance, pan-resistant bacteria

Viruses that no longer respond to standard antiviral medicines, causing treatment failure and onward spread of resistant strains.

Also: HIV drug resistance, antiviral failure

Parasites that escape the medicines used to cure malaria and other parasitic diseases, raising deaths and threatening elimination efforts.

Also: antimalarial resistance, treatment-resistant malaria

Fungal infections that resist the few available antifungal medicines, partly driven by fungicide use in farming, leaving vulnerable patients without treatment.

Also: drug-resistant fungal infection

Mosquitoes and other vectors that survive the insecticides used in bed nets and spraying, weakening control of malaria, dengue and other diseases.

Also: mosquito insecticide resistance, vector control failure

Too few new antimicrobials reaching patients, and fragile supply of old ones, because development is unprofitable, leaving resistance to outpace treatment.

Also: empty antibiotic pipeline, antibiotic shortage

Emergence of a not-yet-known infectious disease, by any route of spread, able to cause a serious international epidemic before tests, treatments or vaccines exist.

Also: Disease X, pathogen X, novel pathogen epidemic

New or newly dangerous fungal infections in people, often hard to diagnose and treat, spreading in hospitals and among people with weakened immunity as climate and medicine change.

Also: emerging fungal disease, invasive fungal infection outbreak

Spread of soil-living fungal diseases into new regions as warming and drying shift their habitat, causing lung infections where doctors are unprepared.

Also: valley fever spread, soil fungus range shift

Outbreaks of infection that spread within hospitals, clinics or care homes through contaminated equipment, hands or water, harming already vulnerable patients.

Also: hospital-acquired infection outbreak, nosocomial outbreak, care-home outbreak

A cluster of serious illness or deaths with no identified cause, needing rapid investigation because it may signal a new infection or poisoning.

Also: unknown disease cluster, mystery illness

A rise in deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth when skilled birth care, blood, emergency surgery or transport become unavailable.

Also: maternal death surge, obstetric emergency care loss

An increase in deaths of babies in their first month from infection, birth complications and prematurity when newborn care breaks down.

Also: neonatal death surge, neonatal sepsis

More babies born early, small or stillborn as heat, air pollution, malnutrition and stress affect pregnancies, with lifelong effects on survivors.

Also: preterm birth rise, low birthweight, stillbirth rise

A fall in routine childhood vaccination because services, outreach or funding fail, leaving cohorts of unprotected children and seeding outbreaks.

Also: zero-dose children, missed vaccinations, routine immunisation backsliding

Loss of safe infant feeding when breastfeeding support collapses, formula runs short or safe water is lost, putting infants at risk of malnutrition and infection.

Also: infant formula shortage, breastfeeding disruption

Loss of contraception, antenatal care and safe delivery services in crises or funding cuts, leading to unintended pregnancies, unsafe births and maternal deaths.

Also: contraceptive stockout, family planning service loss

A sharp rise in anxiety, depression and distress across a population after a pandemic, war, economic collapse or disaster, overwhelming scarce mental health services.

Also: collective trauma, mass psychological distress, Population mental-health crisis, mental health emergency, psychological trauma burden

Lasting traumatic stress and grief among survivors, responders and displaced people after disasters or violence, impairing recovery, work and family life.

Also: post-traumatic stress, disaster trauma, PTSD after disaster

A sustained rise in suicide across a population or group, often linked to economic hardship, isolation, debt, heat or access to lethal means.

Also: suicide epidemic, rising suicide deaths

Rising depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders among children and young people, linked to social pressures, online harms and disrupted schooling.

Also: adolescent mental health crisis, child mental health emergency

Anxiety, grief and loss of wellbeing tied to climate change and the loss of home places, worst among young people and communities facing repeated disasters.

Also: eco-anxiety, solastalgia, climate grief

Widespread loneliness and loss of social contact, especially among older and young people, raising the risk of depression, dementia, heart disease and early death.

Also: loneliness epidemic, social disconnection, Social isolation and loneliness

Rapid spread of real physical symptoms through a group, such as a school or workplace, without a toxic or infectious cause, driven by fear and social transmission.

Also: mass sociogenic illness, epidemic hysteria

A rise in addictive and harmful gambling, accelerated by online and mobile betting, causing debt, family breakdown, depression and suicide.

Also: online gambling harm, problem gambling

Rising rates of heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure, driven by diet, inactivity, pollution and untreated risk factors, causing early death and disability.

Also: heart attack and stroke surge, hypertension epidemic, high blood pressure burden, Rising non-communicable disease burden, NCD epidemic, obesity epidemic, chronic disease surge

Fast growth in diabetes across populations, leading to blindness, kidney failure, amputation and heart disease where screening and treatment lag behind.

Also: type 2 diabetes epidemic, diabetes surge

Population-wide rise in excess body weight from food environments and sedentary living, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancers and joint disease.

Also: overweight epidemic, childhood obesity

Growing numbers of cancer cases from ageing, tobacco, infection, pollution and lifestyle, outpacing diagnosis and treatment capacity and causing avoidable deaths.

Also: cancer surge, rising cancer incidence

Lasting lung disease such as chronic obstructive disease and asthma, worsened by smoke, dust and air pollution, causing breathlessness, hospital stays and early death.

Also: COPD, chronic obstructive lung disease, asthma burden

Rising chronic kidney damage, including clusters among outdoor workers linked to heat, dehydration and toxicants, that leads to kidney failure where dialysis is scarce.

Also: kidney disease of unknown cause, heat-stress nephropathy

Growing numbers of people living with dementia as populations age, straining families, long-term care systems and health budgets for years.

Also: Alzheimer's disease burden, neurodegenerative disease rise

Long-lasting fatigue, organ damage or disability that follows an infection wave, removing people from work and school and adding a hidden care burden.

Also: long COVID, post-viral fatigue, post-acute infection syndrome

Widespread use of tobacco and nicotine products, including new products taken up by young people, that drives cancer, heart and lung disease.

Also: smoking epidemic, vaping uptake, nicotine addiction

Heavy and harmful drinking across a population that causes liver disease, cancers, injuries, violence and family harm.

Also: alcohol-related harm, binge drinking

Sudden loss of ongoing treatment such as dialysis, insulin or cancer care during a disaster, conflict or shortage, turning stable chronic illness into emergencies.

Also: dialysis interruption, insulin access loss, treatment interruption

A rapid rise in dangerous weight loss among young children and other vulnerable people during food crises, disease outbreaks or conflict, sharply raising the risk of death.

Also: wasting, severe acute malnutrition, child wasting surge

Long-term poor nutrition and repeated infection in early childhood that stunt growth and brain development, reducing lifelong health, learning and earnings.

Also: stunting, child growth failure

Widespread lack of essential vitamins and minerals in diets, causing anaemia, blindness, weakened immunity and birth defects even where calories are sufficient.

Also: hidden hunger, vitamin A deficiency, iron-deficiency anaemia, zinc deficiency

Outbreaks of classic deficiency diseases in camps, prisons or aid-dependent populations living on narrow rations, causing nerve, skin and heart damage.

Also: scurvy outbreak, pellagra outbreak, beriberi outbreak

A shift in national diets towards highly processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat, driving obesity and chronic disease alongside persistent undernutrition.

Also: ultra-processed diet shift, nutrition transition

Loss of protein, iron and zinc in staple crops grown under higher carbon dioxide and heat, quietly deepening deficiency in populations that rely on those staples.

Also: falling food nutrient density, carbon dioxide nutrient dilution

Scarring and disease of the lungs from breathing mineral dusts, fibres or fumes at work, including resurgent silicosis among stone workers, causing disability and death.

Also: silicosis, pneumoconiosis, engineered stone silicosis, black lung

Heat stress among outdoor and factory workers that causes collapse, kidney injury, accidents and lost working hours as hot days become more common.

Also: worker heat stress, outdoor worker heat illness

Cancers caused by exposure at work to carcinogenic dusts, chemicals, fumes, radiation or night shifts, often appearing decades after exposure.

Also: work-related cancer, workplace carcinogen exposure

Acute or chronic poisoning of workers by solvents, metals, fumigants or other industrial chemicals through poor controls, protective equipment or ventilation.

Also: solvent poisoning, workplace poisoning

Deaths and disabling injuries from falls, machinery, vehicles and collapses at work, highest in construction, farming, fishing and informal labour.

Also: occupational injury, work accidents, fatal work injury

Illness and death linked to long working hours, job strain, insecurity and harassment at work, including heart disease, depression and suicide.

Also: burnout, overwork deaths, workplace stress

Too few doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers because of burnout, migration, low pay or deaths, leaving services unstaffed and care delayed.

Also: health worker exodus, clinician burnout, nurse shortage

Prolonged strikes or walkouts by health staff that suspend clinics, surgery and outreach, delaying care for large populations.

Also: doctors' strike, nurses' strike

Sudden loss of public, donor or insurance funding for health that closes programmes, cuts medicine supply and halts disease control.

Also: health aid cuts, donor withdrawal, health budget collapse

Households pushed into poverty by direct payments for care, or forced to forgo treatment, as costs rise or financial protection is withdrawn.

Also: medical impoverishment, health cost crisis

Loss of public trust in vaccines, fed by misinformation, politicisation or a safety scare, that lowers uptake and lets eliminated diseases return.

Also: vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaccine movement, vaccine refusal

Interruption of routine services such as primary care, screening, immunisation and disease programmes during crises, causing excess deaths that outlast the crisis.

Also: primary care collapse, routine service disruption

Loss or neglect of the systems that detect and report outbreaks, so epidemics grow unseen and responses start late.

Also: surveillance blind spot, outbreak detection failure

Hospitals and clinics that stop working because of flooding, fire, power or water loss or structural damage, forcing evacuation of patients when need is highest.

Also: hospital evacuation, hospital shutdown

Erosion of international agreements, funding and data sharing for health, weakening joint outbreak response and leaving countries to face epidemics alone.

Also: withdrawal from international health cooperation, pandemic preparedness gap