Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 3, 2026

Clade X

Clade X: A Global Health Security Simulation was a pandemic modelling exercise led by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Health Security, which occurred on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C. The exercise was named after a hypothetical novel virus, and simulated efforts to counter a fast-moving and deadly epidemic released on purpose by a terrorist group consisting of scientists and their rich backers wanting to reduce overpopulation. In the simulation, the hypothetical pandemic resulted in 900 million simulated deaths. The exercise was invitation-only and nearly 150 people attended.

Last revised
Jul 3, 2026
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Clade X: A Global Health Security Simulation was a pandemic modelling exercise led by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Health Security, which occurred on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C.1 The exercise was named after a hypothetical novel virus, and simulated efforts to counter a fast-moving and deadly epidemic released on purpose by a terrorist group consisting of scientists and their rich backers wanting to reduce overpopulation.23 In the simulation, the hypothetical pandemic resulted in 900 million simulated deaths.4 The exercise was invitation-only and nearly 150 people attended.5

Participants

The exercise was co-hosted by the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), the Global Health Council, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).6 It was funded through a grant from Open Philanthropy.7

References

References

  1. Watson, Crystal; Toner, Eric S.; Shearer, Matthew P.; Rivers, Caitlin; Meyer, Diane; Hurtado, Christopher; Watson, Matthew; Gronvall, Gigi Kwik; Adalja, Amesh A.; Sell, Tara Kirk; Inglesby, Tom; Cicero, Anita (2019-10-07). "Clade X: A Pandemic Exercise". Health Security. 17 (5): 410–417. doi:10.1089/hs.2019.0097. ISSN 2326-5094.
  2. Loria, Kevin. "This Pandemic Could Kill 900 Million People if It Happened Today, Warns Leading Medical Institute". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  3. Seidel, Jamie (2018-07-30). "A virus attack could end the world". news.com.au. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  4. Waugh, Rob (2018-07-30). "Pandemic 'could wipe out 900 million people,' experts warn". Metro. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  5. Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (2021-12-16). "About Clade X, a tabletop exercise". Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  6. "Clade X: A Global Health Security Pandemic Simulation Highlights Need to Support Global Health Security Initiatives". Global Health Council. 2018-08-16. Archived from the original on 2022-03-29. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  7. Mandal, Ananya (2018-07-31). "World not ready to deal with a viral pandemic". News-Medical. Archived from the original on 2021-04-04. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
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Further reading

Further reading