What classifies an epidemic?
Epidemic refers to an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area. Outbreak carries the same definition of epidemic, but is often used for a more limited geographic area.
What is the greatest epidemic?
20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history
- Flu pandemic: 1889-1890.
- American polio epidemic: 1916.
- Spanish Flu: 1918-1920.
- Asian Flu: 1957-1958.
- AIDS pandemic and epidemic: 1981-present day.
- H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: 2009-2010.
- West African Ebola epidemic: 2014-2016.
- Zika Virus epidemic: 2015-present day.
What was the first pandemic in America?
the 1918 flu
The first recorded cases of the 1918 flu were at a U.S. Army camp in Kansas in March 1918. By the late summer and early fall, a second, deadlier wave of the flu emerged and caused particular devastation at Camp Devens in Massachusetts. About a third of the 15,000 people at the camp became infected, and 800 died.
Which is an example of an epidemic in biology?
Biology for Kids Epidemics and Pandemics What is an epidemic? An epidemic is when an unusually large number of people in a community get a disease at the same time. Examples of epidemic diseases include typhus, influenza, the Black Death, malaria, and smallpox. What causes an epidemic? There are a number of events that can cause an epidemic.
What’s the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines pandemics, epidemics, and endemics based on a disease’s rate of spread. Thus, the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic isn’t in the severity of the disease but the degree to which it has spread. A pandemic cuts across international boundaries, as opposed to regional epidemics.
Where was the largest epidemic in the world?
A plague epidemic raged in Augsburg, Bavaria between 1632 and 1635. This is a list of the largest known epidemics and pandemics caused by an infectious disease. Widespread non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer are not included.
What makes a disease more virulent in an epidemic?
Increased virulence of the disease – Sometimes the pathogen (germ) that causes a disease may change and become more virulent. This means that it can more easily infect people and make them sick. Introduction of a new disease – Many epidemics begin when a new disease is introduced to a population.
What is to best definition of an epidemic?
The CDC’s official definition of an epidemic is: “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.”
What are some examples of epidemic diseases?
An epidemic is when an unusually large number of people in a community get a disease at the same time. Examples of epidemic diseases include typhus, influenza, the Black Death, malaria, and smallpox.
What is the criteria for an epidemic?
Generally, an epidemic occurs when host immunity to either an established pathogen or newly emerging novel pathogen is suddenly reduced below that found in the endemic equilibrium and the transmission threshold is exceeded.
What are the causes of epidemic?
Epidemics are caused by social and biological factors. Their basis is the epidemic process, that is, the continuous transmission of the causative agent of the infection and an unbroken chain of successively developing and interdependent infectious conditions (disease, bacteria carrier state) in a group of people.