Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic – Endemic vs Pandemic
By Balaji
Updated on: February 17th, 2023
The difference between pandemic and endemic is that pandemic refers to a disease that spreads over countries and continents, whereas an endemic refers to a condition where a disease affects many people at one time and spreads from person to person in places where it is not common. An endemic can turn into a pandemic if not contained. People live in an ocean of bacteria and viruses.
Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic PDF
These viruses and bacteria spread infectious diseases that can spread in multiple ways. At times infectious diseases break the threshold and spread across the country or can have a global impact. This spread of infectious diseases is classified using terminologies like pandemic, endemic, and epidemic. It is also important to understand the difference between Pandemic and Endemic for categorizing infectious diseases.
Table of content
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1. Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic
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2. Endemic and Pandemic
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3. What is an Endemic?
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4. What is a Pandemic?
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5. Key Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic
Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic
The basic difference between pandemic and endemic is that infectious disease spreads across countries, continents, and the entire world in a pandemic. On the other hand, the disease is spread only within one region and is endemic. The following table lists the major difference between endemic and pandemic based on various parameters.
Endemic vs Pandemic
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Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic |
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Parameters |
Pandemic |
Endemic |
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Definition |
Disease outbreaks in a country, continent or the entire world are known as pandemic. |
Disease outbreaks in a specific region is known as endemic. |
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Permanency |
The sudden outbreak spreads globally. |
It is found permanently present in a region or a population. |
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Derivation |
Derived from the Greek words pan means all and demos means people. |
Derived from the Greek words, En means in, and demos means people. |
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Rate of Spread |
Rapid rates and new cases appear every day. |
Constant rate and spread are stable and get predictable over time. |
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Examples |
COVID-19 outbreak New Viral Strain |
Caribbean Dengue Chickenpox in the UK Malaria in Africa |
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Deaths |
It can cause high numbers of death. |
It does not cause very high numbers of death. |
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Consequences |
Social disruption Economic Loss |
Cases in communities Individuals and family suffering |
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Contact with Wild Animals |
Hunting and eating wild animals can lead to the spread of viruses from the wild animals. |
No such connection is observed. |
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Prediction of Spread |
Difficult to predict. |
Spread can be predicted over time. |
Endemic and Pandemic
A pandemic involves an even wider spread, frequently encompassing the entire globe. However, it is said to be endemic when a disease spreads persistently and frequently in a specific area or region. Here we have provided the difference between pandemic and endemic along with a brief introduction.
What is an Endemic?
An Endemic is an infectious disease outbreak in a limited region that spreads at a limited rate. An endemic disease can become a pandemic or endemic and vice versa. For example, cholera was an illness that was caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacteria, Vibrio cholera.
- The disease originated in India, but the outbreak spread globally.
- In several regions, cholera is now endemic.
What is a Pandemic?
There are several differences between pandemic and endemic with respect to region, extent, and number of deaths. A pandemic is a kind of endemic where the infectious disease gets spread to a large area like a country, continent, or the entire world.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a pandemic as the spread of a new infectious disease in the entire world.
- The number of infectious disease cases exponentially grows during a pandemic.
COVID-19 Pandemic
- As our world faces one of the most detrimental pandemics of COVID-19, many people are intrigued to know the difference between Endemic and Pandemic.
- The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus claimed several lives worldwide, and several new variants are now causing diseases at different rates.
Conclusion:
Key Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic
The key Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic is that Pandemic disease spreads over a big part that covers whole countries or even continents, impacting a significant portion of the population, whereas an Endemic infection occurs in a maintained population at a baseline level of the geographic location.
