Pandemic vs Endemic

30 Dec 2022

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In 2020, the world was shocked by the arrival of the corona virus disease. This corona spread so fast that the virus was declared a pandemic. A pandemic is a disease outbreak that spreads simultaneously to almost all countries. However, in 2021, WHO stated that this corona virus disease is endemic. Endemic is defined as a disease that occurs continuously. Because cases of the corona virus disease do not stop within a year, this corona is declared as endemic.

Endemic diseases are diseases that are always present in a particular area or population. The prevalence of this disease remains fairly stable and predictable over time. Some examples of endemic conditions include:

  • Malaria: This mosquito-borne disease exists in many countries around the world. However, it is endemic in parts of Africa, among other things, because higher temperatures allow Anopheles mosquitoes, the carriers of malaria, to breed. This means malaria remains at a constant level in this region.
  • Coccidioidomycosis: Inhalation of mold spores causes this condition, which is also known as valley fever. It is endemic to the Southwestern US and northern Mexico.
  • Dengue fever: This condition is endemic in tropical and subtropical areas because, like malaria, it is spread by mosquito bites. The Aedes mosquito carries a virus that can cause dengue fever.

A pandemic occurs when a disease spreads across countries or continents. Scientists can determine that a disease has become a pandemic if it spreads very quickly, with new cases appearing every day. Some examples of pandemics include:

  • Bubonic plague: The bubonic plague, also known as the “Black Death”, is spread by tick bites. A bacterium known as Yersinia pestis causes it. The bubonic plague became a pandemic in the 14th centuryTrusted Source. The disease persistsReliable Source today and is most endemic in Madagascar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Peru. He also attends Trusted Source in the US, specifically in the southwestern states, which include Arizona and Colorado.
  • Influenza 1918: A specific strain of the influenza (flu) virus caused this pandemic. It affected more than a third of the global population in 1918 and caused an estimated 50 million deaths.
  • HIV: This virus attacks the immune system, making people susceptible to many other infections. Experts believe that HIV originated in chimpanzees before passing to humans. This transmission may have occurred as early as the late 19th century. HIV reached the United States in the mid to late 1970s.
  • Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS): A virus known as SARS-CoV-1 causes this disease. Experts first identified the virus in Asia in 2003 Trusted Source. SARS spread to more than 24 countries on multiple continents before international efforts to contain it proved successful.
  • Swine flu: The H1N1 virus causes swine flu . The first known case of swine flu in the US occurred in 2009 Trusted Source. The virus, containing a unique combination of influenza genes that scientists had never seen before, spread worldwide, causing an estimated 151,700–575,400 deaths worldwide.
  • COVID-19: The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes this disease, which experts first detected in late 2019 . Many scientists believe that it originated in wild animals before passing to humans, although its exact origin is unclear.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), pandemics and endemics differ based on the degree of spread of the disease, not the severity of the disease. Although the endemic itself is quite large and covers a region, the spread of the disease remains under control. Meanwhile, a pandemic is international and out of control. A pandemic means that the rate of spread of the disease has trapped international borders beyond the scope of the endemic region. This wider geographical reach is what makes a pandemic cause severe social disruption, even economic losses.

It is important to note that endemic status can develop into pandemic status. Conversely, the pandemic status of a disease can also turn into an endemic, depending on the rate at which the disease spreads over time. However, endemic status does not essentially mean that the virus or bacteria has completely disappeared and stopped causing a particular disease, such as COVID-19. Pandemic status can turn into an endemic when enough people get immune protection from vaccination or natural infection. This means less transmission of the disease and fewer hospitalizations and deaths from the disease, even if the virus continues to circulate. One example of a disease that has received pandemic status is COVID-19, Pandemic Influenza such as Spanish Flu, Asian Flu, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, and so on. The same status was also assigned to tuberculosis (TB), Black Death or bubonic plague, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases.

Based on the statement above, it can be interpreted that in 2020 there has been a pandemic due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus which spread simultaneously to almost all countries.  What distinguishes a pandemic from an endemic is the rate at which the disease spreads.  A pandemic has a level of spread of disease that traps international borders outside the coverage of endemic areas.  While endemic, the spread of the disease is quite large and covers an area, but remains under control. We need to be aware that an endemic situation could turn into a pandemic given the extent of the dissemination. According to the rate of the disease’s sporadic spread, a pandemic of a disease can potentially turn into an endemic state. Take Covid-19, for instance, which bears the status of a pandemic due to its rapid global spread. Nevertheless, despite the virus or bacterium having totally vanished, Covid-19 has now been classified as an endemic. This is also a result of the government-provides immune protection from immunizations, which helps to prevent disease spread. There are other additional illnesses that first reach pandemic status before becoming endemic, in addition to Covid-19.

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Edinia Salsabilla, Erika Kamada, Angela Irene, Zalma Allysa Jihan Iranni