Pandemic and epidemic

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Dusklight

#411848 Fri, 31 Aug 07 12:04 AM

Is there a difference?

Dusklight

Joined on Mon, Aug 27 2007

New Member (39)

Feebs11

#411901 Fri, 31 Aug 07 02:11 AM

Yes:

epidemic = a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time

pandemic = outbreak of an infectious disease over a whole country or a large part of the world or throughout the world.

Feebs11

Joined on Thu, Nov 23 2006

Senior Member (4,809)

Dusklight

#411906 Fri, 31 Aug 07 02:21 AM

does that mean

pandemic = long term, larger area
epidemic = short term, smaller area

and do they only apply to diseases only?

Dusklight

Tanit

#412016 Fri, 31 Aug 07 09:38 AM

Hi,
Maybe this helps:

"Epidemic' is the word that we use when we're talking about a large number of people or animals in a certain place that are affected by disease or illness. 'Pandemic' is the word we use when almost all the people and animals in a certain place are affected by a disease or illness. And that's the short answer.

But that little 'pan-' prefix is something that you might want to remember because we often use it to mean 'all'. So people make up new words by putting 'pan-' in front of something ? you might hear about a 'pan-Asian' conference, for example."

(From BBC LearningEnglish)

Tanit

Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006

In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

Contributing Member (1,962)

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Dusklight

#412525 Sat, 01 Sep 07 06:40 AM

ok, and you can only describe diseases with them?

oh and thanks for the little prefix tip, I didn't know that. Smile [:)]

Dusklight

Grammar Geek

#413344 Sun, 02 Sep 07 11:15 PM

That's certainly the most familiar use. It could possibly be used metaphorically. What use did you have in mind?

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,288)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Dusklight

#413425 Mon, 03 Sep 07 04:29 AM

Nothing at the moment. I've been following with Peterson's Word of the Day, and saw the word 'pandemic', so I wondered the difference between it and 'epidemic'.

Can I use it in 'A pandemic flow of immigrants came to Canada.' maybe?

^ (just thought of that)

Dusklight

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