Pandemic  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Wikipedia Wiktionary Tumblr Wikisource YouTube Shop Featured: A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933)

1. Widespread; general.
2. medicine Epidemic over a wide geographical area and affecting a large proportion of the population.

   World War I might have continued indefinitely if not for a pandemic outbreak of influenza.

A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan "all" + δῆμος demos "people") is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics exclude seasonal flu, unless the flu of the season is a pandemic. Throughout history there have been a number of pandemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis. More recent pandemics include the HIV pandemic and the 2009 flu pandemic.

Pandemics in popular media

Literature

• The Andromeda Strain a 1969 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton
• Company of Liars (2008), by Karen Maitland
• The Decameron, a 14th century writing by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, circa 1353
• Earth Abides, a 1949 novel by George R. Stewart
• I Am Legend, a 1954 science fiction/horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson
• The Last Canadian, a 1974 novel by William C. Heine
• The Last Town on Earth, a 2006 novel by Thomas Mullen
• Pale Horse, Pale Rider, a 1939 short novel by Katherine Anne Porter
• The Stand, a 1978 novel by Stephen King
• Two Journeys, a 2009 novel by Clemens P. Suter

Film

• After Armageddon (2010), fictional History Channel docudrama
• End Day (2005), a fictional BBC docudrama
• The Horseman on the Roof (Le Hussard sur le Toit), a 1995 French film
• The Last Man on Earth, a 1964 Italian horror/science fiction film based upon the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend. The film was directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, and stars Vincent Price.
• The Omega Man, a 1971 English science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal, based on the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend
• Smallpox 2002 (2002), a fictional BBC docudrama
• I Am Legend, a 2007 film staring Will Smith based on the Richard Matheson novel "I Am Legend"

See also

• Epidemic
• Endemic
• Syndemic
• Pandemic Severity Index
• Biological hazard
• Bioterrorism
• Biological warfare
• Influenza pandemic
• Mortality from infectious diseases
• Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth
• Medieval demography
• Globalization and disease
• Tropical diseases
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
• WHO pandemic phases