Pandemic  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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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.

In popular culture

Pandemics appear in multiple fiction works. A common use is in disaster films, where the protagonists must avoid the effects of the plague, for example zombies.

Literature

• The Decameron, a 14th-century writing by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, circa 1353
• The Last Man, an 1826 novel by Mary Shelley
• The Plague, a 1947 novel by Albert Camus
• Earth Abides, a 1949 novel by George R. Stewart
• I Am Legend, a 1954 science fiction/horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson
• The Andromeda Strain, a 1969 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton
• The Last Canadian, a 1974 novel by William C. Heine
• The Black Death, a 1977 novel by Gwyneth Cravens describing an outbreak of the Pneumonic plague in New York
• The Stand, a 1978 novel by Stephen King

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