A pandemic can be defined as a disease outbreak that spreads across multiple countries or continents. It affects and kills more people than an epidemic. When it became clear that the illness was severe and spreading rapidly across a large area, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
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The Number of People Killed in a Pandemic is Determined By:
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How many people have been infected?
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How severe the virus’s illness is (its virulence)
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The degree to which certain groups of people are vulnerable
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The effectiveness of prevention efforts
The Who’s Pandemic Alert System Has Six Levels, Ranging from Phase 1 (low Risk) to Phase 6 (Full Pandemic):
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Phase 1: No human infections have been reported as a result of an animal virus.
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Phase 2: An animal virus has infected humans.
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Phase 3: In humans, there are scattered cases or small clusters of disease at this stage. If the illness is spreading from person to person, it is not widespread enough to cause community-wide outbreaks.
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Phase 4: If the disease starts spreading from person to person, with confirmed community outbreaks.
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Phase 5: The disease has spread to humans in more than one country within one of the WHO regions.
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Phase 6: At least one more country has community-level outbreaks in a different region than Phase 5.
Prevention: Slowing the Spread of Pandemic Disease
During an outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic, there is no sure way to prevent disease spread. Scientists might take a long time to develop a vaccine. However, it is now easier to produce specific vaccines in a shorter period of time than it was several years ago. When a vaccine is ready, people and groups who are more likely to become ill will be the first to receive it.
In the Meantime, People All Over the World Can Take Other Steps to Stay Healthy:
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Hands should be washed frequently with soap as well as with water. If that isn’t possible, use an alcohol-based hand cleaner or gel sanitizer. Rub it into your hands until the hands are completely dry.
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If you haven’t just washed your hands, don’t touch your mouth, nose, or eyes.
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Cover your mouth as well as cover your nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then toss the tissue in the garbage. After that, wash your hands.
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Avoid crowded places and try to stay home if you can.
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Clean as well as disinfect household surfaces every day.
List of Pandemics
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Chikungunya
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Cholera
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Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever
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Ebola virus disease
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Hendra virus infection
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Influenza (pandemic, seasonal, zoonotic)
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Lassa fever
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Marburg virus disease
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Meningitis
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MERS-CoV
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Monkeypox
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Nipah virus infection
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Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
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Plague
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Rift Valley fever
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SARS
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Smallpox
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Tularaemia
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Yellow fever
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Zika virus disease
Latest Pandemic – Covid-19 (2020-2021)
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The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the first global pandemic since the 2009 swine flu pandemic. As of the date 18 April 2021, the total number of people infected with COVID-19 worldwide was 141,323,906, with a number of 119,927,691 recovering. The death toll stands at 3,024,062.
Coronavirus is defined as a large family of viruses that have been linked to illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious conditions such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Cholera Pandemic
In the last 200 years, seven cholera pandemics have occurred, with the first occurring in India in 1817. Furthermore, there have been numerous documented cholera outbreaks, including one in South America in 1991–1994 and, more recently, a cholera outbreak in Yemen from 2016 to 2021.
Although much is known about the mechanisms underlying the spread of cholera, this has not resulted in a complete understanding of why cholera outbreaks occur in some places but not others. The spread of E. coli is greatly aided by the failure to treat human faeces and the failure to treat drinking water. Water bodies have been discovered to act as reservoirs, and seafood shipped long distances can spread the disease.
Plague Pandemic
The Justinian Plague from 541 AD t
o 549 AD was the start of the first plague pandemic, the first Old World pandemic of plague, the contagious disease which was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
Plague is known to be a severe infectious disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis that is still prevalent in indigenous rodent populations in South and North America, Africa, and Central Asia. It is transmitted to humans during epidemics by the bite of the Oriental or Indian rat flea and the human flea. The fleas’ primary hosts are the black urban rat as well as the brown sewer rat. When plague is in its pneumonic form. is also transmissible person to person.
There have been three major world pandemics of plague recorded, in 541 CE, 1347 CE, and 1894 CE, each of which resulted in massive mortality of people and animals across nations and continents. On more than one occasion, plague irreversibly altered society’s social and economic fabric.
1855 is the start date.
1945 is the end date.
Europe, Asia, Yunnan, Africa, South America, North America, and Oceania are all possible locations.
The Black Death Plague
From 1346 to 1353, Afro-Eurasia experienced a bubonic plague pandemic known as the Black Death. It is the most lethal pandemic in recorded history, killing 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, with a peak in Europe from 1347 to 1351.
Deaths range from 75,000,000 to 200,000,000. (estimate)
Bubonic plague is a disease.
1346 is the start date.
1353 is the end date.
Asia, Caucasus, North Africa, and Europe
Location: Asia, Caucasus, North Africa, Europe