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A pandemic is what? What is the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic?

What is a pandemic and how does it differ from the epidemic? Why and when do they occur? What can cause them in the modern world? And what is said about this in the film "Pandemic of lies"?

Distinction

Give everything in order. In fact, a pandemic is a massive disease of people. Just like the epidemic. However, they differ in scale. If an outbreak is usually called an outbreak with a prevalence above a certain level for a given region, then it becomes a pandemic when it crosses the borders of the state in which it originated and when the number of infected is comparable to the population.

As we see, this definition is rather vague. And Ebola's fever, for example, spread to several states, causes concern to the entire world community, but can not in the full sense be called a pandemic. While the seasonal epidemic of common influenza, "walking", say, across Europe, is well suited to its definition.

From the history

Where would modern medicine be without microbiology and virology? These related sciences have greatly assisted humanity. Apparently, since the emergence of a reasonable person, our race has suffered from viruses and microorganisms. Evidence of this is the ancient chronicles and excavations of burials (in the latter, for example, typhoid bacteria are found). What can I say, if only over the past two thousand years from the pandemics caused by the terrible diseases of the past, more died than as a result of world wars! According to some reports, only five hundred million people became victims of black smallpox. We will briefly describe the most famous pandemics in the history of mankind.

Smallpox

A pandemic (it was she) raged everywhere. Still it was called natural, or black, smallpox. The disease, from which millions died in dark times, is caused by a virus. On average, mortality from it around the world reached forty percent. It was widespread all over the place. Often infected with it from pets. And the disease of animals people endured, and subsequently it helped many to avoid the human smallpox. This was the reason and the first vaccinations (or rather, variolations - inoculated smallpox), although the effect of the latter and weakened with the course of life.

There are cases of deliberate contamination of Indians of the North American continent. For the latter, this disease was fatal in 90% of cases. The pandemic is one of those tools that helped the settlers to occupy other people's territory. The British specially gave and sold the Indians infected with smallpox blankets, clothing, so that the terrible virus cleared for them the New World.

Thanks to widespread vaccination, the disease was completely defeated in the Soviet era. And the smallpox virus is stored only in several laboratories around the world. If an outbreak occurs, a vaccine can be made from it.

Plague

Acute illness with extremely high mortality. It flows with the defeat of internal organs, lymph nodes, develops sepsis. Bubonic and pulmonary plague are known. Occurs in natural foci, its carriers are rodents. Called by a plague stick. With modern methods of treatment, mortality can be reduced to five percent. In ancient times, however, pandemics of this disease are known, killing millions of people. Thus, the Justinian Plague, which appeared in the 541-700 gg. In Egypt, killed up to 100 million people around the world. Only in Byzantium half of the entire population died from her. Another famous pandemic was the Black Death. Then (1347-1351) the plague came to Europe from China. Thirty-four million people died from her.

But the story of the plague does not end there. During the so-called Third Pandemic, only six million people died in India. But, unlike the first two cases, the disease "traveled" over the world for more than fifty years. It was able to spread across the continents due to developed trade relations.

Pandemics of cholera

There were several of them. The first pandemic originated in 1816 in Bengal. It suffered greatly from countries such as India, China and Indonesia. The number of victims is estimated at tens of millions. Then cholera reached Russia. Here, more than two million people died from it. In total, seven cholera pandemics are known. All of them arose already in modern times. Before the nineteenth century, cholera was a local disease. Apparently, one of the reasons for its pandemics can also be considered the development of trade relations between countries.

Typhoid: abdominal, eruptive and recurrent

The disease is characterized by severe fever, intoxication and mental disorders. The first known pandemic (this is 430-427 BC.) Happened during the Peloponnesian War. Then the fourth part of the Athenian army died from her, which undermined the domination of this state in the region. To find out the reason of this disease it was possible only now due to excavation of mass graves. On the remains of ancient warriors, typhus bacteria were found.

Epidemics also occurred in later times. For example, during the First World War in Russia and Poland, up to three and a half million people died of typhus.

The storm of our time

The most known to date pandemic flu, the so-called "Spaniard", according to some sources, in the early twentieth century killed up to a hundred million people. A feature of the disease is rapid spread and low mortality. And only when a person becomes infected with the influenza virus from animals or from birds, it becomes deadly to him. So, apparently, and was in the case of the "Spaniard". The peculiarity of this pandemic was that it rounded the globe three times, each time fading and flashing again with renewed vigor. And he also increased the death rate. Interesting facts about this are also given in the documentary film "Pandemic of lies".

According to the World Health Organization, only from seasonal epidemics of influenza worldwide, up to five hundred thousand people die per year. And this despite the fact that there are regular vaccinations of the population. And yet this is not a pandemic. However, scientists do not rule out the occurrence of such a virus if the virus of a usual seasonal disease mutates and acquires deadly properties for a person. So, as it was in cases of epidemics of swine and bird flu. Vaccines from these strains have not been proven effective yet.

Finally

The flu is, of course, a threat to humanity. But medicine, in principle, is always ready for it. However, the flu pandemic occurs, as usual, suddenly. Such terrible diseases of antiquity, like the plague, cholera, typhus and smallpox, fortunately, are almost no longer threatened. But do not forget about the hidden pandemics. They are characterized by a prolonged course of the disease. This is HIV, tuberculosis and, to a lesser extent, malaria. From each of these diseases millions of people die each year. Effective medication from them has not yet been found. Many now say that Ebola is a pandemic.

So, let's make a conclusion from the above. A pandemic is a disease, the number of cases of which is comparable with the population of the region, while it crosses the borders of several states, and the mortality from it is kept at a high level. And, despite all the achievements of modern medicine, new threats replace the threats of antiquity, viruses and bacteria adapt to drugs, and old vaccines become ineffective. Perhaps in this way nature wants to say something to a person? ..

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