These are the 3 diseases scientists say we really need to worry about becoming epidemics

Charities, governments, and scientists from across the world gathered in Switzerland on Thursday to hammer out a plan of action to stop three of the world’s most potentially devastating diseases from turning into full-blown, global epidemics. And the diseases they’re focussing on aren’t the headline-makers you might expect. The three disease targets are: Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome(MERS), Lassa fever, and the Nipah virus (NiV) – all of which are highly contagious, and currently have no vaccines or treatments in the pipelines. The plan of attack, according to the announcement made by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is to fund vaccination research into these three diseases now, before they get out of hand. So far, various charities and governments around the world have created a US$460 million initiative to get the ball rolling. “We know that epidemics … are among the significant threats...