These days it is must know about the Epidemic and Pandemic diseases, isn’t it?
The world is getting sick with unknown threats, day by day, it happens frequently. As a result, the related terms are getting confusing, so if you want to understand the potent power of a virus-like Corona, you have to know the definition of an epidemic and a pandemic. As the world has changed, everyone should know about the term very clearly so that they can understand the level of the situation of the warnings.
It is true that defining epidemic, endemic, pandemic, an outbreak is somewhat complicated. Assuming this as your confusion too, here I am going to make you clear about the terms and the difference between them.
The distinction between the concepts “pandemic,” “epidemic,” and “endemic” is typically dimmed, also by medical specialists. Because the definition of each term is liquid, and it varies as diseases become more or less prevalent over time. In conversation, maybe this is less important to know the exact definitions but to understand the overall condition of public health news and responses you should know the concepts.
What is Endemic?
Endemic defines as a disease that is something that permanently belongs to a particular people or country. Such as, in some parts of Africa, Malaria is everlasting upset for them. Dengue is common in the Caribbean, Central, and South America, Southeast Asia.
So you can call it Endemic when it affects within a particular society, population, or region constantly.
What is an Epidemic?
You can define an Epidemic as an outbreak of infection that affects a large number of people within a community, population, or region. It may spread to others at almost the same time.
For Example, the Zika virus occurred in the United States in 2016 and 2017. Ebola occurred from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa.
What is Pandemic?
Pandemic defines as “an epidemic transpiring over a vast area, multiple countries or several continents and impacting a large proportion of the population or community.
Here is a very recent example we have. The Corona-virus has affected almost 6 million people and killed approximately 370,000 across the world. Another Example is The Spanish Flu of 1918, it was roughly killed 50 million people worldwide.
You can say this as a bigger stage of any disease. Now you know the term Epidemic, then When an epidemic spreads throughout the world, you can call it a pandemic. So between Epidemic and Pandemic diseases, what kind of disease corona-virus is?
What is an Outbreak?
An outbreak is a greater-than-expected jump in the number of endemic crises. It can be a single case in a particular region, but if it is not controlled quickly, an outbreak can become an epidemic. So you can say that outbreak takes the same definition of an epidemic. But it is usually used for a more confined geographical area.
According to the World Health Organization, separate outbreaks of the Zika virus have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific. The largest outbreak of Ebola occurred from 2014-2016 in West Africa, and a separate outbreak occurred from 2018-2019 in the eastern region of the democratic republic of congo.
Epidemic vs. Pandemic
A simple way to know the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic is to remember that pandemic can not occur without epidemic. The thing is a pandemic is an epidemic that travels throughout multiple countries or continents.
Epidemic vs. Endemic
Okay now, what’s the difference between an epidemic and endemic? An epidemic is actively growing; new cases of the disease widely surpass what is suspected. It is used to describe when any problem is out of control. It is often localised to a certain area like when Corona-virus limited to Wuhan, China, it is an epidemic.
Besides, endemic is a disease that continuously presents in a specific location like Malaria in Africa is endemic to parts of Africa.
Endemic vs. Outbreak
Going one step more, an endemic can lead to an outbreak, and an outbreak can occur anywhere in the world. Suppose Last summer’s dengue fever outbreak in Hawaii, Dengue fever is endemic to some areas of Africa, and the Caribbean. Mosquitoes in these states transmit dengue fever and carry it from person to person. But in 2019 there was an outbreak of dengue fever in Hawaii, where the disease is not called endemic. It is said that a dengue affected person visited the Island and bitten by mosquitoes. Then the mosquitoes bit the other individuals, which created an outbreak.
Phases of Pandemic
Phase 1: no infections circulating among animals have been reported to cause diseases in humans.
Phase 2: an animal flu virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals is recognised to have caused infection in humans and is hence viewed as a possible pandemic warning.
Phase 3: an animal or human-animal disease reassortant virus has caused sporadic cases or small clusters of disease in people. Still, it has not resulted in human-to-human transmission sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks.
Phase 4: This stage of pandemic described by the verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal flu reassortant virus able to cause community-level outbreaks.
Phase 5: is defined by the human-to-human extent of the virus into at least two nations. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal indeed.
Phase 6: this pandemic phase, is marked by community-level outbreaks in a minimum of one other country in another region in joining to the standards defined in Phase 5. Designation of this period will symbolise that a global pandemic is begun.
So, that’s how the understanding of these terms are very confusing. Because they are related to each other internally. They depict the condition and the power of the diseases. However, to stay safe and healthy you need to know more about epidemic and pandemic diseases
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