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After nearly two years of horrifying deaths, crippling anxiety of contraction, helplessness, and a series of safety protocols — pandemic\u2019s meaning is crystal clear to all of us. But the recent conjectures and debates around the declining COVID-19 infections, hospitalisation, and death rates have raised an important question: are we finally hdefines<\/span>eaded towards an\u00a0endemic? We\u2019ll find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The uninformed might confuse the endemic\u2019s meaning with the pandemic\u2019s meaning since they\u2019re often used interchangeably in ordinary conversations. However, both have distinct nuances in medical science that you should know to make sense of the news and public health guidelines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention<\/em> defines the two terms as follows:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the sake of simplicity, let\u2019s break down the pandemic and endemic definitions further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, both the situations stem from the same source (or disease). But what exactly is the difference between endemic and pandemic? It boils down to the rate and scale of the infection spread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Diseases borne from bacterial and viral infections are not uncommon across continents. Just think of the common flu, Chickenpox, TB, and more. In most cases, however, the infection rates are predictable and controllable. They\u2019re contained within a specific region or a group of people. And are directly affected by the seasons, sanitation conditions, and preventative measures of the place. This is endemic\u2019s definition, simply put. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Indian context, dengue is endemic, meaning the country is more prone to dengue outbreaks, but the levels of disease are stable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But what happens when the infection rates start to soar at lightning pace or there is a new virus strain outbreak? The highly transmissible disease becomes impossible to contain and spreads beyond borders to different continents. It has nothing to do with mortality rate or virology, but everything to do with how far the disease spreads. This sums up the pandemic\u2019s meaning. The Spanish Flu, Swine Flu, and the recent COVID-19 outbreak are some examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is how the endemic\u2019s meaning differs from the pandemic\u2019s meaning. In terms of impact and scale, the latter is far more deadly. Yet — controllable with time, as history will tell you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, isn\u2019t the first of its kind. Throughout recorded history, many deadly pandemics and endemics have ravaged the human population and wiped off entire civilisations in a matter of days. Even the Roman Empire, one of the most significant polities of the time, suffered from the Antonine Plague (which experts deem a possible Smallpox epidemic) for a whole generation. Some other notable ones include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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How does a pandemic differ from an endemic? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n