What makes a disease pandemic




















A pandemic is an epidemic that travels. Get help with a billing issue. Need help with financial assistance. Website feedback. Contact Intermountain. Outbreak carries the same definition of epidemic, but is often used for a more limited geographic area. Cluster refers to an aggregation of cases grouped in place and time that are suspected to be greater than the number expected, even though the expected number may not be known. Pandemic refers to an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people.

Epidemics occur when an agent and susceptible hosts are present in adequate numbers, and the agent can be effectively conveyed from a source to the susceptible hosts. More specifically, an epidemic may result from:. The previous description of epidemics presumes only infectious agents, but non-infectious diseases such as diabetes and obesity exist in epidemic proportion in the U. Check your answer. A common-source outbreak is one in which a group of persons are all exposed to an infectious agent or a toxin from the same source.

If the group is exposed over a relatively brief period, so that everyone who becomes ill does so within one incubation period, then the common-source outbreak is further classified as a point-source outbreak. The epidemic of leukemia cases in Hiroshima following the atomic bomb blast and the epidemic of hepatitis A among patrons of the Pennsylvania restaurant who ate green onions each had a point source of exposure.

Figure 1. Image Description. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unpublished data; In some common-source outbreaks, case-patients may have been exposed over a period of days, weeks, or longer. In a continuous common-source outbreak , the range of exposures and range of incubation periods tend to flatten and widen the peaks of the epidemic curve Figure 1. The epidemic curve of an intermittent common-source outbreak often has a pattern reflecting the intermittent nature of the exposure.

A propagated outbreak results from transmission from one person to another. Usually, transmission is by direct person-to-person contact, as with syphilis. Transmission may also be vehicleborne e. In the span of months, influenza traveled around the globe, with the earliest cases reported in Russia. The virus spread rapidly throughout St. Petersburg before quickly making its way through Europe and the rest of the world, despite the fact that air travel didn't exist yet, leaving 1 million people in its wake.

Spanish Flu - : Another massive disease outbreak was the influenza pandemic, popularly called Spanish flu. This viral pandemic began in , immediately following World War 1.

Over 50 million deaths were recorded during this outbreak, with the disease lasting only two years. The Asian Flu - : The Asian Flu pandemic, which was a blend of avian flu viruses, began in China and eventually claimed more than 1 million lives. The total death toll was more than 1.

Scientists believe that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is likely to have evolved from a virus found in chimpanzees that was transferred to humans in West Africa in the s. By the late 20th century, the virus had made its way around the world. For decades, the disease had no known cure, but medication developed in the s now allows people with the disease to experience a normal life span with regular treatment.

Explore More: Columbia Public Health faculty have led on every aspect of the global response to HIV, from research into mother-to-child transmission to strengthening treatment and care systems to the history of stigma, advocacy, and coalition-building.

A common attribute of epidemic and pandemics is the need to take preventive care from infection. Typically, there is a large time lag between an outbreak and when vaccinations can be distributed, as we have seen with COVID Since , the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health has led the charge in public health research, education, and community collaboration.

We tackle today's pressing public health issues and translate research into action. Learn more about our public health degree programs. Search form Search. This may be true if the disease is rare e. An epidemic occurs when an infectious disease spreads rapidly to many people. In , the severe acute respiratory syndrome SARS epidemic took the lives of nearly people worldwide.

The influenza flu pandemic of killed between 20 and 40 million people.



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