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Endemic, epidemic or pandemic, what is the correct term for the coronavirus?

Several concepts are used to refer to this threat to health. But what do they really mean?

Entire cities blocked, hundreds of underserved supermarkets and long lines of people waiting to buy drugs and masks in pharmacies.

That is the picture that Wuhan coronavirus outbreak left in the Chinese province of Hubei, where the infectious outbreak that caused dozens of deaths and affected thousands of people.

Health authorities in different parts of the world have warned of the need to make controls and to maintain good hygiene among the population to prevent this unknown disease from continuing to spread.

Chinese couple with mask
Health agencies monitor the evolution of the coronavirus in fear that it may become a global pandemic. (Photo: Reuters)

And in less than two months “Wuhan pneumonia” has propagated quickly, not only in the interior of China but also to other countries such as Japan, Thailand and the United States.

Faced with these events, health agencies monitor the evolution of the coronavirus in fear that it may become a global pandemic.

But what is a pandemic and what is the difference with an epidemic and an endemic infection?

What is a virus and how does it spread?

Let’s start at the beginning: a virus is a small collection of proteins and genetic material.

Person washes his hands
Specialists agree that good hygiene is much more effective than the use of masks to prevent virus transmission. (Photo: Getty Images)

There are many viruses in the world. An example, and that infects many people every year, is that of influenza or influenza.

In the United Kingdom, for example, it can affect around 10 or 20% of Its population every year.

The flu spreads when people sneeze or cough. The virus is transmitted between people or through infected substances such as mucus.

But other viruses can be spread by direct contact when people hug or kiss, and there are others that are transmitted through sexual contact such as HIV.

Epidemic, pandemic or endemic?

Rosalind Eggo, an academic specialist in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, explained to the BBC the differences between epidemic, pandemic and endemic.

“Endemic infection is present in an area permanently, at all times for years and years, ”says the expert.

An example could be chickenpox in many countries, where cases are recorded every year. Or malaria, which in parts of Africa is an endemic infection.

A sick girl in a bed and a thermometer marking a high temperature.
Malaria in an example of endemic infection in some areas of Africa. (Photo: Getty Images)

On the other hand, an epidemic is “an increase in cases followed by a Maximum point Y, then, a decrease“.

This is what happens in countries where flu epidemics are recorded every year: in autumn and winter cases increase, a maximum of infections is reached and then it decreases.

Finally, the pandemic is an epidemic that occurs “Around the world at about the same time.”

Eggo recalls the influenza that began in Mexico in 2009 and that later reached the entire world, was an influenza pandemic.

Are we prepared for a possible pandemic?

The expert remembers that the greater mobility and the number of trips in increase that are realized in all the planet are the main cause of which a hypothetical pandemic can be unleashed.

“People will continue to travel all over the world and if the infection can survive in the places it reaches, then we will have a pandemic,” he says.

Eggo highlights the vital role that vaccines play in dealing with diseases.

“Vaccines allow our bodies to see what a virus or bacterium looks like, before we really know it. If we find that virus or that bacterium, our bodies can respond quickly and solidly, ”he says.

So, could we react to a new pandemic?

The world is more prepared than ever. And scientists, countries, public health agencies like WHO, work closely to ensure that we are as prepared as possible if there is a new pandemic, ”concludes Eggo.


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