Epidemic and pandemic are terms used to describe the spread of infectious diseases, but they differ in scale and impact.
Epidemic refers to a sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in a specific geographical area or population. An epidemic can be localized to a single community, region, or country. For example, the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa (2014-2016) was considered an epidemic because it was confined to a specific region and caused a significant increase in the number of cases beyond the normal levels.
Pandemic, on the other hand, refers to an epidemic that has spread across multiple countries or continents, affecting a large number of people worldwide. A pandemic involves a new infectious disease to which most people do not have immunity, allowing for rapid and widespread transmission. The COVID-19 outbreak, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, is an example of a pandemic due to its global spread and impact.
While both epidemics and pandemics can cause significant public health challenges, pandemics generally require a more coordinated international response due to their larger scale and potential to affect global populations and economies.
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