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The World Health Organization (WHO) has added a so-called Disease X to its list of maladies that could potentially harm humanity and result to an epidemic of global proportions, despite the fact scientists are yet to discover it.

The unknown disease could be as detrimental as some diseases that spread terror across the world centuries ago, before modern medicine techniques appeared and fought diseases that were thought to be incurable.

WHO on its website said “Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.”

The Federal Government says treatment for Lassa fever remains free and urged members of the public to disregard news to the contrary.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this in a statement on Sunday.

The NCDC boss disclosed this in a reaction to newspaper reports that the high cost of treating Lassa fever was responsible for the high mortality rate recorded so far in the country.

Higher levels of Vitamin D in the blood may be linked to a lower risk of developing certain cancers, a study in Japanese adults reported Thursday. “These findings support the hypothesis that Vitamin D has protective effects against cancers at many sites,” researchers reported in a study published in The BMJ medical journal.

According to a study published in the Journal Neurology, people living in areas that receive more sun rays are likely to develop multiple sclerosis later in life. In multiple sclerosis, immune system tends to attack the protective sheath that covers nerve fibres and cause communication problems between the brain and rest of the body.

The disease can cause the nerves themselves to deteriorate or become permanently damaged. As per the researchers, adequate sun exposure in childhood and young adulthood may especially be beneficial in terms of reduced multiple sclerosis risks.

Three persons have lost their lives in what appears to be a reemergence of Lassa fever epidemic. The National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and the Ministry of Health, have confirmed all three cases of the deadly disease in Montserrado and Nimba counties.

According to a release by the Ministry of Health, the victims were given a safe and dignified interment. The county health teams are now doing contact tracing on both community members and healthcare workers who came into contact with the patients during their symptomatic period and are considered to be at risk.

Nigeria needs at least $1.6bn over the next ten years to support the purchase of vaccines and immunization activities if it hopes to drastically reduce child-killer diseases. This was made known to senators by a delegation from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), World Health Organisation and other international donors.