An epidemic is commonly defined as the process of infectious diseases spreading fast within a short period of time to a large number of individuals in a given population and spreading to numerous countries or continents. An epidemic can occur anywhere in the world. A pandemic is defined as the widespread spread of a new illness throughout the world. A pandemic is a severe variation of an epidemic that spreads widely. To put it another way, when an epidemic spirals out of control, it is referred to as a pandemic. If an infection spreads across numerous countries and across continents, it is likely to be classified as a pandemic. Pandemics are classified into several categories.
What is an Epidemic, and how does it spread?
An epidemic is commonly defined as the process of infectious diseases spreading fast within a short period of time to a large number of individuals in a given population and spreading to numerous countries or continents. An epidemic can occur anywhere in the world.
It is believed that the term Epidemic comes from a Greek phrase that means “upon or above people.”
Influenza, SARS, and smallpox are some of the common examples of Epidemics that have occurred in the past.
Originally, the word epidemic came from Homer’s Odyssey, but Hippocrates’ Epidemics, a medical treatise, gave it its medical connotation. Earlier spellings of the words epidemios, epidemio, and epidermis, like epidamos, had similar connotations to the words “indigenous” and “endemic.” A sickness pandemic is described in Thucydides’ narrative of the Plague in Athens. During the early 17th century, the terms endemic and epidemic described two different types of illness outbreaks affecting a population’s overall health, the former occurring at low rates while the latter was widely distributed. The word “epidemic” has taken on a life of its own.
As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an epidemic is defined as a “widespread public health problem.” “where there are more illnesses, injuries, or other health problems than expected in a particular area or among certain individuals at any given time. Epidemic and outbreak are often used as synonyms in the media. This phrase should only be used for minor incidents, say researchers Manfred S. Green and colleagues. This distinction is recognized by Chambers Concise Dictionary and Stedman’s Medical Dictionary.
What exactly is Pandemic?
A pandemic is defined as the widespread spread of a new illness throughout the world. A pandemic is a severe variation of an epidemic that spreads widely. To put it another way, when an epidemic spirals out of control, it is referred to as a pandemic. If an infection spreads across numerous countries and across continents, it is likely to be classified as a pandemic. Pandemics are classified into several categories.
HIV/AIDS is one of the most damaging global pandemics in history, and it is one of the best illustrations of this.
The pathogenic or dangerous microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and other parasites, that can travel from one person to another through the air, water, and other routes of transmission are the primary causes of epidemics and pandemics, according to the World Health Organization.The term “pandemic” refers to an epidemic that occurs on a large scale that crossed international borders, typically affecting people all over the world.
A disease or condition is not considered a pandemic simply because it is widespread or kills a large number of people; it must also be infectious in order to qualify. For example, cancer is responsible for a large number of deaths but is not considered a pandemic because the disease is not contagious—that is, easily transmissible—and is not even infectious in the traditional sense.
After years of debating, the World Health Organization finally decided to remove the words “with enormous numbers of deaths and illnesses” from their definition in 2009.
It was also decided in 2008 that a “influenza pandemic” must be a new subtype with a simple reassortant virus in order to be classified as such, which means that many seasonal flu viruses could now be considered pandemic influenza.
Infectious disease pandemics (from the Greek, pan, “all,” and o, demos, local people,” the ‘crowd’) are epidemics of infectious diseases that have spread across a large region, for example, multiple continents or the entire world, and have affected a large number of people.
A pandemic is defined as a widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected individuals that has spread throughout a population. It is generally accepted that widespread endemic diseases, which manifest themselves as a stable number of infected individuals, such as recurrences of seasonal influenza, are excluded from consideration because they manifest themselves simultaneously in large regions of the world rather than spreading worldwide.
Difference between Epidemic and Pandemic
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Epidemic |
Pandemic |
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In public health, an epidemic is a disease outbreak that affects a large number of people and spreads rapidly. |
A pandemic is a much more serious epidemic than a regular epidemic. In the case of a pandemic, many countries are affected or the disease has spread across continents. |
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Within the span of two weeks, an epidemic occurs when a certain number of people are infected with a disease. |
The rate of spread and the extent to which an outbreak has spread are more important in pandemic outbreaks than the number of people affected or killed. |
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West African Ebola is an example of an epidemic disease. |
Asian Influenza and Cholera are examples of pandemic diseases. |
Conclusion
From the following article we can conclude that An epidemic is the rapid spread of infectious illnesses to large populations across countries or continents. An outbreak can strike anywhere. A pandemic is the global spread of a new disease. A pandemic is a severe outbreak of an epidemic. In other words, a pandemic is an outbreak that escalates out of control. A pandemic occurs when an infection spreads across multiple countries and continents. There are various types of pandemics.