TISSNET GK – Epidemic, Pandemic, Endemics:Disease Outbreak

All About Epidemics, Pandemics & Endemics. The outbreak of coronavirus has introduced the whole world with terms like epidemics, pandemics, and endemics. Therefore, it is imperative to know about all these terms in detail.

In this article, we will not just introduce you to such terms but also impart you with the knowledge of some of the diseases that showed up as epidemics and pandemics in the past, affecting the people and their nations. 

Epidemics, Pandemics & Endemics: Introduction

1. Epidemics refers to a disease that affects a large number of people within a community, population, or region. The epidemics can have a point source (spreading from a single person), continuous source( water or food ) or person to person spread.

2. Pandemics refers to an epidemic that’s spread over multiple countries or continents.

3. Endemics refers to a disease that belongs to a particular people or country. They are always present in a group of people but they are rare. For instance: chickenpox, malaria etc. These are further categorized into two: Holoendemic (affecting children) and Hyperendemic (affecting people of all age groups).

Let us see some of the examples across each of these categories.