Pandemic: what it is, why it happens and what to do

The pandemic can be defined as a situation in which an infectious disease spreads quickly and uncontrolled to several places, reaching global proportions, that is, it is not restricted to just one city, region or continent.

Pandemic diseases are infectious, have easy transmissibility, are highly contagious and have rapid spread.

What to do during a pandemic

During a pandemic it is necessary to redouble the care that was already being applied on a daily basis, this is because in the pandemic the number of infected people is much higher, which favors its spread. Thus, it is important to avoid contact with people who are sick or who show signs or symptoms that are indicative of infectious disease, wear appropriate masks to avoid exposure to the infectious agent, cover mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and avoid touching the eyes nose and mouths.

In addition, it is important to wash your hands regularly to avoid contagion and infection from other people, because your hands are the easiest means of acquiring and transmitting diseases.

It is also important to be aware of the recommendations of the health authorities, avoiding traveling and frequenting indoors and with a lot of concentration of people during the pandemic, since in these cases there is a greater chance of transmission of the disease.

Major pandemics

The most recent pandemic occurred in 2009 and was due to the rapid spread between people and continents of the H1N1 virus, which became known as influenza A virus or swine flu virus. This flu started in Mexico, but soon expanded to Europe, South America, Central America, Africa and Asia. Thus, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined it as a pandemic due to the presence of the influenza virus on all continents in a fast, growing and systemic way. Prior to influenza A, the Spanish influenza occurred in 1968 which led to the death of about 1 million people.

In addition to the flu, AIDS has been classified as a pandemic since 1982, since the virus responsible for the disease managed to spread easily and considerably quickly among people. Although the cases currently do not grow at the same rate as before, the World Health Organization still considers AIDS as a pandemic, since the infectious agent can spread easily.

Another infectious disease that was considered pandemic was cholera, which was responsible for at least 8 pandemic episodes, the last one being reported in 1961 starting in Indonesia and spreading to the Asian continent.

Currently, Zika, Ebola, Dengue and Chikungunya are considered endemic diseases and have been studied due to their pandemic potential due to their ease of transmission.

Understand what is endemic and how to prevent it.

What favors the emergence of pandemics?

One of the factors that most favors the pandemic today is the ease of moving people from one location to another in a short period of time, facilitating that an infectious agent can also be transported to another location and thus be able to infect other people.

In addition, people often do not know that they are sick because they do not show signs or symptoms of infection, and do not have personal or hygiene care, which can also favor transmission and infection among more people.

It is important that pandemics are identified quickly so that necessary measures can be taken to prevent infection among people and prevent the spread of the infectious agent.

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Bibliography

• UNA-SUS. Epidemiology - Concepts and applicability in the Unified Health System. 2017. Available at:. Accessed on 17 Jun 2019
• MATOS, Haroldo José. The next pandemic: are we ready?. Rev Pan-Amaz Health. Vol 9. 3 ed; 9-11, 2018