Endemic:A characteristic of a particular population,environment或地区。的例子endemicdiseases include chicken pox that occurs at a predictable rate among young school childreninthe United States and malaria in some areas of Africa. Thediseaseis present in a community at all times but in relatively low frequency.
Bycontrast, there are the related terms "epidemic" and "pandemic":
- Anepidemicis a sudden severe outbreak within a region or a group, as with AIDS in Africa orAIDSinintravenousdrug users.
- Apandemicoccurs when an epidemic becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the entire world.
The word "endemic" comes from the Greek "en-", "in" + "demos", "people or population" = "endemos" = "in the population." An endemic is in the people.
By contrast, "epi-" means "upon." An epidemic is visited upon the people. And "pan-" means "all." A pandemic affects all the people.
