Difference between epidemic and pandemic

Difference between epidemic and pandemic

Epidemic – It is an outbreak of disease or virus that is spreading faster and affects most people in a single region.

The spread of the epidemic is limited to a particular region. An epidemic is not necessarily contagious. Some Examples are the Ebola virus in Western Africa and SARS which came in the year 2003.

Pandemic– A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease or virus that is spread very widely. The effect of a pandemic is on a larger number of people or population. It can affect different continents and countries.

A pandemic is always contagious. Some examples are the Spanish Flu which came in the year 1918, Coronavirus which has created a surge over the globe and started in 2019.

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The major difference between epidemic and pandemic is just because of the area difference.

Where on the one side pandemic is a type of epidemic that moves in multiple areas, countries and continents. An epidemic is a disease that spreads in the people within a particular group or region.

The amount of area both epidemic and pandemic covers is entirely different. A pandemic can be more dangerous than an epidemic at times but it varies as the situation moves. The only difference is the matter of scale. Therefore a pandemic is a type of epidemic that has spread across the globe.

Reasons why the epidemic occurs:

1. It can occur in a geographical area and spread more where it has already occurred before.
2. It can also occur in a geographical area where it has not occurred before.
3. It can occur in a geographical area where people were already suspicious about the disease and it starts showing symptoms in that particular area.

Reasons why pandemic occurs:

1. When a virus spreads in animals and human cannot fetch the same virus.
2. When a virus occurs in animals and it can spread in humans also.
3. If the virus can form after animal to human contact.
4. If the virus can spread through human to human contact.
5. When an epidemic breaks and spread in another region or community areas.

Things you should know about pandemic:

1. It leaves impressions on a larger geographical area.
2. It is caused by a new virus surge
3. The death rate is comparatively high
4. It creates an impact on the economy of the country it spread.

Things you should know about the epidemic:

1. The epidemic is a much prior stage of a pandemic where the virus is at the community level.
2. Not all epidemics need to turn into a pandemic.
3. The epidemic is a phase where the virus starts spreading faster and also starts affecting a large number of people within a community area.
4. An epidemic too can be uncontrollable at times.

Risks associated with pandemic:

1. Pandemic has been in large frequency if we look at the history also.
2. The risk of a pandemic can be both through where it can arise and how will it impact humans.
3. Some geographical areas still lag in preparing themselves for pandemic so they can suffer a lot.

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An epidemic and pandemic are both dangerous as they can spread in a very high number of people quickly. It can also create behavioural changes in humans and they can also fear stepping out of the houses. There can be fears like working out in workplaces during the spread of pandemic and epidemic

A pandemic specifically can cause both economic and social disruption. People can also get more affected just by staying in their homes and can get frustrated with time. As it takes times for both epidemic and pandemic to get eradicated easily.

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Regions that are less prepared for these situations to occur can bear more economic and social pressure in comparison to the other areas that still are prepared with some precautions to take if the situations occur.

The countries should know the risks associated with both epidemic and pandemic. They should know the causes, results, precautions etc to make sure that accurate steps are taken if the situation arises. Both can be dangerous with their scope of growth.

Examples of the epidemic: Measles, Malaria, Dengue fever, Tuberculosis, Spanish Flu, Mexico smallpox epidemic and many others.

Examples of a pandemic: COViD-19, HIV/AIDS, Swine flu and many others.