What is a Pandemic?

Pandemic refers to the rapid spread of a disease, involving a wide area, and a large proportion of the population. It can cross provincial boundaries and even continents to form a worldwide epidemic in a short period of time. Some infectious diseases, such as influenza, cholera, and plague, have experienced pandemics in history. Due to the increasing international exchanges, the spread of various epidemics worldwide has also accelerated. The World Health Organization monitors outbreaks of infectious diseases around the world and decides when to increase the response to the disease to "epidemic" and "pandemic" levels.

Basic Information

Chinese name

Pandemic

Foreign name

pandemic

Category

Medical term

Species

Epidemic process

example

World pandemic in 1957

Pandemic mode of transmission

Infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa can cause outbreaks of infectious diseases. These diseases are spread in several different ways: water, food, soil, animals, and human contact. When an infectious disease spreads rapidly to many people in a certain country or region, it becomes an epidemic.

Pandemic hazard

The danger of a world pandemic of disease always exists, such as influenza and cholera, and there have been many world pandemics. In 2009, the H1NI influenza formed a world pandemic, the largest epidemic in the past three decades, and the reason was the mutation of the influenza A virus. With the rapid development of the world economy and increasingly convenient transportation, the frequency and speed of the movement of people and materials is unprecedented. The rapid movement of pathogens and infectious sources will cause a disease to spread throughout the world in a short time, so the danger of a pandemic is always Existence. To raise awareness, the alarm bell is long.

There have been many pandemics in history, many of which are related to animals, such as influenza, tuberculosis, and plague. In addition to disease pandemics that can cause death, destroy cities, politics, nations, disintegrate civilization, and even wipe out ethnic groups and species.

Pandemic disease

Ebola virus infection, Lhasa fever, Rift Valley fever, Marburg virus infection, and Bolivian hemorrhagic fever are highly contagious and can cause deaths quickly. Theoretically, they may cause widespread epidemics. However, the spread of these diseases is also limited. Patients have not died before spreading the pathogens. In addition, these diseases require close contact to be transmitted. So far, no pandemic has occurred in the world. Likelihood, there will be opportunities to increase their spread potential.