Difference between Epidemic, Pandemic and Endemic UPSC Notes

With the global outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, people worldwide have experienced a flood of new medical terminologies to understand the disease and the medical response against it. During this course, pandemic, endemic and epidemic became the most confusing terms and are used interchangeably. The difference between a pandemic and an endemic is that pandemic is a global outbreak of a new disease. On the other hand, an endemic is also a disease outbreak, but it’s confined to a limited region. While an epidemic is somewhat similar to a pandemic in the rate of spread but unlike a pandemic which is just an infectious disease epidemic can be both infectious and non-infectious as well. In this article, we will learn the difference between a pandemic and an endemic in more detail.

Knowing this difference will help you better understand the public health news and appropriate health response and be handy for the UPSC civil services exam preparation from the UPSC IAS Prelims and Mains exam perspective.

Difference between Epidemic, Pandemic and Endemic

Difference between Epidemic Endemic and Pandemic

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What is a Pandemic?

According to the WHO, a pandemic is the global spread of a new illness. In other words, a pandemic is an epidemic that has spread globally (an epidemic is a disease outbreak spreading very quickly to a large population in a short period).

A pandemic can significantly harm humanity in all aspects of its existence as it spreads over a wide geographic area. A pandemic can cause severe illness and spread fast from one person to another. Most often, as in Covid-19, the disease spreads quickly among people because they lack immunity to the pathogen that causes it.

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Examples

Some of the notable pandemics in human history are-

• 1346-1350- Black Death
• 1918-1929- Spanish Flu
• 2009-2010- Swine Flu
• 2019-Present- Covid-19

What is an Endemic?

An endemic is a disease outbreak confined to a certain geographic area. An endemic is constantly present among the local population and is expected to last forever. Endemics are caused by regionally widespread, specific causative organisms such as viruses, bacteria, etc., such as the Plasmodium-induced malaria endemic in West Africa (Protozoan). The greatest treatment for an endemic disease is prevention.

Examples

Some of the prevalent endemics in the world are-

• The Flu
• Malaria
• Syphilis
• Hepatitis-B

What is an Epidemic?

An epidemic occurs when a disease spreads quickly to a wide population. Contagiousness is unnecessary for an epidemic like measles, diabetes, and cholera. In an epidemic, the disease spreads extremely quickly and unexpectedly. An epidemic can happen when the disease-causing agent and the host (people) are both present in sufficient numbers. Infectious and non-infectious diseases can both be considered epidemics.

Example

Infectious Epidemics

• Sixth Cholera Pandemic
• Asian Flu

Non-infectious Epidemics

• Cholera Epidemic in Asia
• Diabetes and Obesity epidemics in the USA

Learn more about Human Diseases here!

Notable Pandemics

Pandemics have rocked the world since time immemorial. Some of the notable pandemics in human history that have shaped the epidemiological nature of our civilization are-

Black Death

• Estimated killed 25 million people globally.
• The black Death outbreak was caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis.
• This Black Death, also known as Bubonic Plague, lasted almost 4 years.

American Plague

• Europeans brought a cluster of diseases to America in the 16th century.
• Smallpox is considered the principal reason for the collapse of the Inca and Aztec civilizations.
• According to some estimates, around 90% of the indigenous population in some regions, as a result, was killed.

Spanish Flu (1918-1920)

• This viral influenza pandemic, Spanish Flu, began immediately after the First World War.
• Lasted for two years.
• More than 50 million people died in this deadly pandemic across the world.

AIDS Pandemic (1981- Present)

• AIDS, since its inception, has killed around 35 million people.
• HIV evolved from a virus found in Chimpanzees in West Africa.
• There is no complete cure for AIDS to date.
• At present, AIDS has acquired the form of an endemic because the intensity of its spread is very low as a result of the development of treatment practices and AIDS-appropriate behaviour.

Covid-19 Pandemic (2019- Present)

• It is an ongoing pandemic caused by SARS CoV-2 virus.
• According to current estimates, the virus has infected more than 623 million people.
• More than 65 million people died of the Corona pandemic.
• The development of vaccines and natural immunity in humans has slowed the spread of Covid-19.

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