Editorial: The World Health Organization (WHO) Updated List of Emerging and Potentially Pandemic Pathogens Includes Yersinia pestis as Plague Vaccines Await Clinical Trials.

Abstract

The importance of rapidly developing and distributing safe and effective vaccines was a major lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove new vaccine development technologies. In May 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated the identification of bacterial pathogens of importance to public health as guidance for research and development of strategies to prevent and overcome global antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In June 2024, the WHO updated the 2017-18 list of priority pathogens to provide a scientific framework for epidemic and pandemic preparedness. The 2024 updated WHO list of priority pathogens also recognizes emerging infections and historical former pandemic infections, including Yersinia pestis, the cause of bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague. Between 2010 and 2019, the six countries with the most reported human cases of Yersinia pestis infection (from highest to lowest) were Madagascar, the Congo, Uganda, Peru, Tanzania, and the USA, with a total of 4,547 cases with a mortality rate of 17% (786 cases). More than 20 candidate plague vaccines are in the preclinical phase, with few in early (phase 1) clinical trials. This editorial highlights the need for continued review of potential pandemic pathogens and the re-emergence of plague, which awaits a vaccine.