What is the difference between an ordinary epidemic and a pandemic? It is worth knowing, especially now that the World He alth Organization (WHO) has announced the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic.
The terms "epidemic" and pandemic "are often used interchangeably, although their scope is different. When can we speak of a pandemic?
Contents:
- Epidemic - what is it
- Pandemic - what is it
Epidemic - what is it
According to dictionaries, an epidemic is the occurrence ofat a specific time and in a specific areamore cases of illness or other he alth-related phenomena than expected.
The name of the epidemic was, inter alia, the epidemicsmallpox , which broke out in Wrocław in 1963. Fortunately, this epidemic died out 25 days after it appeared.
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Pandemic - what is it
This term comes from the Greek pandemos, where demos means people and pan means all. A pandemic is usually defined as an epidemic of an infectious disease that occursat the same time in several countries on the same continent or on different continents .
The development of the pandemicis fostered by the following factors :
- high contagiousness;
- low mortality of infected people;
- long period of contagiousness (including infection during asymptomatic disease);
- lack of natural immunity in humans.
Pandemic believed to develop infour stages :
1. Small, small-scale epidemic; 2. An epidemic of international concern; 3. Limited secondary outbreaks; 4. Massive secondary outbreaks on at least two continents.
One of the biggest pandemics in recent centuries was theSpanish pandemic(aka the H1N1 influenza A virus) in 1918-19, which spread to Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. with the lives of around 50 million people.
In recent years, the World He alth Organization has announced the threat of a pandemic six times:
- in 2009 because of the H1N1 swine flu virus;
- in 2014 because of polio;
- in 2014 because of the Ebola virus;
- in 2016 because of the virusZika;
- in 2022 because of the Ebola virus;
- in 2022 due to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Of the above-mentioned epidemics, only the 2009 swine flu virus (which killed several hundred thousand people worldwide) and the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have developed to pandemic levels.
In distinguishing between the two terms, therefore, the extent of the occurrence is crucial - an epidemic is usually much smaller, while a pandemic has the potential to spread worldwide.
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