Pandemic, epidemic, endemic and outbreak: Know the differences
A need to know guide on pandemics, epidemics, endemics, and outbreaks
The coronavirus has paralyzed the world ever since the World Health Organization classified it as a pandemic.
But what constitutes a pandemic, and how does it differ from epidemics, endemics, and outbreaks?
Below is an unofficial yet informative guide outlining the differences between each type of disease.
IS CORONAVIRUS A PANDEMIC OR AN EPIDEMIC?
Pandemic
A pandemic is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "an epidemic occurring over a very wide area (several countries or continents) and usually affecting a large proportion of the population."
The West Perrine Health Center in Miami (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
In addition to the coronavirus, which has infected more than 5.8 million people and killed more than 360,000 worldwide according to Johns Hopkins University, other examples include the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed roughly 50 million people worldwide according to the National Insitute of Health, and the H1N1 virus in 2009, which killed an estimated that 151,700-575,400 people worldwide according to the CDC.
Epidemic
An epidemic is defined by the CDC as "the occurrence of more cases of disease than expected in a given area or among a specific group of people over a particular period of time."
Examples include the Zika virus, which occurred in 2016 and 2017 in the United States, Ebola, which occurred in 2014 to 2016 in West Africa, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus which spread in Asia in 2003, and the Black Death, which spread across Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s and the Yunann Peninsula in the mid-1800s.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Endemic
Endemics are defined by the CDC as "a constant presence of a disease or infectious agent within a given geographic area or population group."
Examples include Malaria, which is common in certain regions of the Amazon in Brazil as well as countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia, Chicken pox, which is common primarily today in the UK, Chagas disease, which is common in the eastern region of the Panama Province, and Dengue which is common in the Caribbean (including Puerto Rico), Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.
Outbreak
Outbreak carries the same definition of an epidemic but is often used for a more limited geographic area. If not quickly controlled, an outbreak can turn into an epidemic.
FILE PHOTO: A Congolese health worker instructs residents about washing their hands as a preventive measure against Ebola in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of Congo May 19, 2018. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe
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.