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There are certain diseases which spread within a locality or may spread across the globe. Based on the affecting population and its spreading nature, diseases are widely classified into four types.
- Endemic
- Epidemic
- Pandemic
- Sporadic
Endemic disease:
Have you ever been infected, with Madras eye disease (Conjunctivitis)? How did the name Madras eye come about? It originated due to adenovirus, which causes Madras eye, was first identified in Madras in \(1918\). If you have noticed carefully, this disease will always occur within your locality and not throughout the country Hence it is called as an Endemic disease.
Conjunctivitis - pink eye
The word ‘endemic’ is derived from the Greek, ‘en’ meaning ‘in’ and “demos” meaning “people or population”. On the whole, the word“endemos” refers to “in the population”.The term “endemic” was coined by Hippocrates.
Endemic disease describes something that belongs to a particular geographical area affecting the population, environment and region with the lower occurrence and also if the disease or infectious agent is constantly present within a given geographic area or population group.
Example:
Occurrence of Goitre in Sub-Himalayan regions.
In sub-Himalayan regions, people's food habit has very little iodine content which results in high goitre occurrence in this region.
Enlarged thyroid gland
Epidemic disease:
If you observed from July to October, most of the people were affected by Dengue fever. This fever spreads among a massive number of people at a very high rate. Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease and occurs most frequently during the mid of the year because it provides suitable conditions for breeding mosquitoes.
The term epidemic word is derived from Greek, epi meaning 'upon' or 'above', and demos meaning 'people' and is the term used to describe a situation where the disease breaks out and infects more number of people in a particular geographical region and spreads at the same time. e.g. Influenza.
Influenza is an epidemic disease caused by the influenza virus. There are several types of flu viruses. One of the flu viruses, called swine flu, became an epidemic outbreak in India in \(2015\).
Pandemic disease:
A pandemic is a disease outbreak that affects all countries or continents. A recent outbreak of Covid-19 is an example of a pandemic disease. Corona is a disease that spreads and is distributed all across the globe. Hence it is called a pandemic disease.
The pandemic diseaseis defined as the disease, widely distributed on a global scale. e.g. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It is a chronic disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
From the below picture, we can observe the spread of AIDS across the globe. Hence, it is a pandemic disease.
Sporadic disease:
In the case of Chikungunya, an epidemic disease affected many people on an occasional manner. In India, outbreak happened in the years of 2006 and 2016.
Sporadic disease is defined as the disease when there is an occasional occurrence of it. It is not restricted within a geographical area.
e.g. Malaria and Cholera.
e.g. Malaria and Cholera.
- World Health Day – 7th April
- World Malaria Day – 25th April
- World AIDS Day – 1st December
- World Anti -Tuberculosis Day – 24th March
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