epidemic

Examples of epidemic in the following topics:

• Disease Reservoirs and Epidemics

  • Epidemiologists often consider the term outbreak to be synonymous to epidemic, but the general public typically perceives outbreaks to be more local and less serious than epidemics.
  • The declaration of an epidemic usually requires a good understanding of a baseline rate of incidence.
  • Many epidemics will have characteristics of both common source and propagated outbreaks.
  • Certain epidemics occur at certain seasons: for example, whooping-cough occurs in spring, whereas measles produces two epidemics - as a rule, one in winter and one in March.
  • There is another variation, both as regards the number of persons affected and the number who die in successive epidemics: the severity of successive epidemics rises and falls over periods of five or ten years.

• Current Epidemics

  • An epidemic occurs when new cases of a disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed expectations.
  • Epidemiologists often consider the term outbreak to be synonymous to epidemic, but the general public typically perceives outbreaks to be more local and less serious than epidemics.
  • An epidemic may be restricted to one location; however, if it spreads to other countries or continents and affects a substantial number of people, it may be termed a pandemic.
  • The declaration of an epidemic usually requires a good understanding of a baseline rate of incidence; epidemics for certain diseases, such as influenza, are defined as reaching some defined increase in incidence above this baseline.
  • A few cases of a very rare disease may be classified as an epidemic, while many cases of a common disease (such as the common cold) would not.

• Development of New Vaccines

  • New vaccines are being developed to control recent infectious disease epidemics and cancers.
  • In addition to these efforts against global diseases, progress is being made on a vaccine for the regional menace posed by meningococcal meningitis serogroup A, which causes frequent epidemics and high death rates and disability in African countries south of the Sahara.

• History of Epidemiology

  • The distinction between "epidemic" and "endemic" was first drawn by Hippocrates, to distinguish between diseases that are "visited upon" a population (epidemic) from those that "reside within" a population (endemic).
  • The term "epidemiology" appears to have first been used to describe the study of epidemics in 1802 by the Spanish physician Joaquín de Villalba in Epidemiología Española.
  • John Snow is famous for his investigations into the causes of the 19th century cholera epidemics, and is also known as the father of (modern) epidemiology.
  • His identification of the Broad Street pump as the cause of the Soho epidemic is considered the classic example of epidemiology.
  • John Snow (1813-1858), a British physician who is one of the founders of medical epidemiology, showing cases of cholera in the London epidemics of 1854, clustered around the locations of water pumps.

• The Vocabulary Epidemiology

  • The distinction between "epidemic" and "endemic" was first drawn by Hippocrates, to distinguish between diseases that are "visited upon" a population (epidemic) from those that "reside within" a population (endemic).
  • A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide.
  • The term epidemiology is now widely applied to cover the description and causation of not only epidemic disease, but of disease in general, and even many non-disease health-related conditions, such as high blood pressure and obesity.
  • Compare and contrast the following concepts: epidemic, endemic, pandemic; incidence vs prevalence; morbidity vs mortality; incubation, latency, acute, decline and convalescent periods

• African Trypanosomiasis

  • Four major epidemics have occurred in recent history: one from 1896-1906, primarily in Uganda and the Congo Basin, two epidemics in 1920 and 1970 in several African countries, and a recent 2008 epidemic in Uganda.

• Occurrence of a Disease

  • Outbreaks may also refer to endemics that affect a particular place or group, epidemics that affect a region in a country or a group of countries, and pandemics that describe global disease outbreaks .
  • Each has a distinctive epidemic curve, or histogram of case infections and deaths.

• Ecology, Epidemiology, and Evolution of Pathogens

  • For infectious diseases, it helps to determine if a disease outbreak is sporadic (occasional occurrence), endemic (regular cases often occurring in a region), epidemic (an unusually high number of cases in a region), or pandemic (a global epidemic).

• Finding Patient Zero and Tracking Diseases

  • For example, in the early years of the AIDS epidemic there was controversy about a so-called Patient Zero, who was the basis of a complex transmission scenario.
  • He was vilified for several years as a "mass spreader" of HIV, and seen as the original source of the HIV epidemic among homosexual men.

• Noncholera Vibrios

  • Fecal-oral route infections in the terrestrial environment are responsible for epidemic cholera.