WITH ALL THE FOCUS ON the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, you may hear some confusing and even misused terms. Epidemic and pandemic are just two of the words used frequently in news stories about the disease. They're not the same thing.

 

What Is an Epidemic?

An epidemic is a rise in the number of cases of a disease beyond what is normally expected in a geographical area, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Frequently, the rise in cases happens quickly.

 

"It boils down to incidences and increases in certain areas," says Dr. Manish Trivedi, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Galloway, New Jersey.

 

For example, some areas may have a sudden spike in flu cases when the flu is prevalent. However, that increase in cases doesn't spread among all countries and continents. It may not even spread across an entire state.

Epidemics happen frequently, but many people aren't familiar with them unless they're directly affecting their home region, Trivedi says. A few examples of epidemics include:

 

The Zika virus outbreak that occurred in 2016 and 2017. Zika is spread by mosquitoes in tropical areas and in travelers returning from those areas. Although most people have mild or no symptoms when they contract Zika, the virus can cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect, in women who are pregnant. In 2016, there were 5,168 cases with symptoms reported in the U.S., according to the CDC. By 2019, there were only 19 reported cases in the U.S.

The Ebola outbreak that occurred in 2014 to 2016 in West Africa was the largest outbreak of the disease, the World Health Organization reports. (The Ebola virus was originally discovered in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.) The 2014 to 2016 epidemic began in Guinea and moved to Sierra Leone and Liberia. There also was an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018/2019. Ebola can frequently kill if it's not treated. A total of 28,600 cases and 11,325 deaths took place from Ebola in 2014 to 2016, the CDC reports.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus that spread in Asia beginning in 2003 was an epidemic. SARS is part of the coronavirus family of diseases. Around the world, 8,098 people became sick from SARS and 774 died. Although SARS did spread outside of Asia, it was associated with travel from the affected countries.

Flu epidemics. Some areas of the U.S. (or other countries) may experience a flu epidemic if the number of cases rises beyond the norm. Trivedi's hospital did not experience a flu epidemic this most recent flu season, but they did see a rise in cases – by as much as 2% during one week alone in January. Among those with the flu, 73% had not received a flu vaccine. "That's not an epidemic, but it became larger scale," Trivedi says. "It could become an epidemic." Epidemics can be avoided when people practice safe hygiene such as washing their hands and staying home when sick.

For an epidemic to stop, the number of cases needs to go down. This is often tied into stopping how it's transmitted.

 

Source From : By Vanessa Caceres, Contributor_ health.usnews.com

Date of Input: 26/03/2020 | Updated: 26/03/2020 | faiz_suparman