EPIDEMIC

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience. Epidemiologists often consider the term outbreak to be synonymous to epidemic, but the general public typically perceives outbreaks to be more local and less serious than epidemics.

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epidemic

Noun

  1. A widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population.
  2. An occurrence of a disease or disorder in a population at a frequency higher than that expected in a given time period.

Adjective

  1. Like or having to do with an epidemic; widespread
    Epidemic hysteria occurred upon the incumbent’s reelection.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: epidemic
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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