A pandemic is defined as a widespread epidemic on a planetary scale. The current coronavirus crisis is the latest example in a long list of global pandemics in human history.

Since the arrival of the coronavirus in our lives, the terms epidemic and pandemic are everywhere in the newspapers and networks. What are their meanings and why are these two separate terms?

The term pandemic comes from two Greek terms: pan, which means “the whole”, and demos, the people or the people. A pandemic could therefore be described as a disease that concerns “everyone”. The official definition of the World Health Organization (WHO) is more specific, and speaks of a “worldwide spread of a new disease”. This definition remains subject to debate, however, because the most classic pandemic remains the flu. This virus, which mutates easily, spreads very frequently on all continents, but given the progress in treating it and the many vaccines, it is customary to avoid talking about an influenza “pandemic” every year, in order to avoid the overly anxiety-provoking climate that it implies. Hence the aspect of “new disease” put forward by the WHO.

The term pandemic has, however, undergone various modifications in its history, and is closely related to the term epidemic. We can indeed summarize the pandemic as being a “massive” epidemic, spread over different areas or continents.

A pandemic is therefore an epidemic, but not all epidemics are pandemics. Why ? Because an epidemic is only a pandemic “in the making”: limited to a very specific geographic region. An epidemic is defined as the very rapid, rapidly growing spread of a disease in an area in a short period of time. These are therefore easily transmitted diseases, whether through blood or sexual relations (such as the AIDS virus), or more recently the new coronaviruses.

Human history is riddled with devastating pandemics, the deaths of which number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Here is a sample of the greatest pandemics in history:

The plague of Justinian

The plague bacillus, bacteria of the genus Yersinia pestis, found on fleas on rats, has always wreaked havoc. One of its first pandemics took place between the 25th and 50th centuries, in the Mediterranean Basin. There are between XNUMX and XNUMX million deaths.

The Black Death

The worst eruption of the plague bacillus took place in Europe, between the years 1347 and 1351. Four years of horror, during which a third of the European population would have been wiped out. Given the era and the chaos that followed, little reliable information can quantify the deaths, but the toll seems to range between 75 and 200 million victims.

Smallpox

In 1520, an epidemic due to the smallpox virus broke out again in Europe. In the midst of the era of “conquest” of the territories of America, the Europeans brought it to the new continent, and caused epidemics in South American civilizations and native Americans. Smallpox will eventually be eradicated through mass vaccination efforts.

Spanish flu

One of the biggest modern pandemics. Between 1918 and 1920, at the end of the First World War, it will result in the death of 20 to 40 million people (some figures even go up to 100 million). Despite its name, it was unrelated to Spain and spread all over the world.

The PAGE

AIDS is not a disease in itself, but its consequence. It stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, and is linked to the presence of the HIV virus (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Its mode of spread, through blood or sexual relations, has allowed strong growth in countries where contraceptive methods such as condoms are absent. To date, nearly 35 million people have died of AIDS.

The coronavirus epidemic is officially declared a “pandemic” on March 11, 2020. An announcement that follows the spread of this new virus around the world. Most certainly originating in an animal market in China, the virus first spread to various Chinese regions, such as Wuhan, which will be quarantined. Unfortunately, the virus has already had time to spread elsewhere, and ends up affecting the rest of Asia, Europe, Africa, then America and Oceania. A real global virus, which will persist until the arrival of effective vaccines, or a less contagious mutation of the virus.

The development of a vaccine is a long process, which requires multiple trials and precautions. For covid-19, some vaccine tracks are now well advanced, with protection rates between 70 and 95% (which means that the vast majority of vaccinees will be effectively protected). A hope for ending the pandemic, but which still requires multiple tests to ensure that no adverse effects are to be deplored. Once this step is done, the vaccine can be distributed around the world.