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.

Category

Examples

Epidemics

Plague of Cyprian: A.D. 250-271

 

Cocoliztli : 1545-1548

Causative Agent: S. paratyphi C

Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic: 1793

 

American polio epidemic: 1916

Spanish Flu: 1918-1920

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) -2003

West African Ebola epidemic: 2014-2016

Zika Virus: 2015- Present

 

Category

Examples

Pandemics

Plague of Athens: 430 B.C.

 

The Black Death: 1346-1353

Causative Agent: Yersinia pestis

Flu pandemic: 1889-1890

Asian Flu: 1957-1958

Influenza Pandemic

H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: 2009-2010

AIDS pandemic: 1981-present day

Coronavirus Pandemic- 2019-today

 

Category

Examples

Endemics

 

 

 

 

 

Chagas Disease

Causative Agent: Trypanozoma cruzi.

Measles

Causative Agent: Measles virus (MV)

Tuberculosis

Causative Agent:Mycobacterium tuberculi

Mumps

Causative Agent:Mumps orthorubulavirus

Small pox

Causative Agent: Variola virus

African Sleeping Sickness

Causative Agent: Trypanozoma

Malaria

Causative Agent: protozoan parasite (Plasmodium genus)

Chicken Pox

Causative Agent: Varicella zoster virus (VZV)

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