{"id":838,"date":"2017-12-02T15:58:19","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T15:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.besthealthsciencedegree.com\/?page_id=838"},"modified":"2017-12-01T16:05:54","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T16:05:54","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-a-pandemic-and-an-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.besthealthsciencedegree.com\/faq\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-pandemic-and-an-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Difference Between a Pandemic and an Epidemic?"},"content":{"rendered":"
There’s a difference between a pandemic<\/a> and an epidemic, and it’s directly related to how many people are infected, and where those people live in relation to one another.<\/p>\n An epidemic is a sickness that is limited to a specific region or county. In some cases it might even be limited to a certain city. A pandemic will often move past borders to infect more people and become global. An epidemic is the beginnings of a problem that might or might not develop into a pandemic. The ease with which it’ll turn into a pandemic will depend on the seriousness of the virus.<\/p>\n An epidemic can be kept local when it’s a virus that’s been seen before. People are able to fight against it. It’s not transferred beyond the city or region because there’s some immunity for people that keeps it from spreading uncontrollably.<\/p>\n A pandemic starts locally but quickly grows and spreads beyond the city, state or region to begin impacting more countries. It’s normally a strain of virus that hasn’t been seen before, or it’s one that hasn’t been seen in a long time. Immunity is almost non-existent, which helps it to spread.<\/p>\n Every year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world can expect to get seasonal influenza. It’s a known virus that doesn’t reach the pandemic stage because it’s a known virus that is already circulating. Pandemics would involve a flu virus that hasn’t been seen for a very long time if at all. They’ll cause more deaths than a known virus.<\/p>\n Common pandemics usually involve the influenza virus. A pandemic can begin when the virus changes, which is called an \u201cantigenic shift.\u201d The only characteristic that matters with the new antigenic shift is whether the virus can be communicated to other humans. If it’s easily transmissible, it can quickly become a pandemic.<\/p>\nIs It a Pandemic or an Epidemic?<\/h3>\n
Cases of Influenza<\/h3>\n