Epidemics

Epidemic

noun

1. a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.

   "a flu epidemic"

adjective

1. (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

Pandemic

What actually is a virus?

• microscopic parasites
• much smaller than bacteria
• lack the capacity to thrive and reproduce outside of a host body.

Coronavirus - Covid-19

Get their name from spiky projections on their outer surfaces

Corona in Latin means crown

Coronavirus - Covid-19

• spike proteins extend from within the core

• the virus latches on to the vulnerable cells
• Virus hijacks cell

• Cell becomes factory to create reproduce viruses

Where do viruses come from?

HIV

SARS

Ebola

Where do viruses come from?

• Sells live animals including bats. (to eat 🤢 )

• linked to illegally traded wildlife at Wuhan's seafood market

However, the exact source of the outbreak has not been identified.

How do you get infected?

• respiratory droplets
• coughing or sneezing
• droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose.

Why China?

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Animal Contact

Dense Urban Populations

"Super Spreaders"

"Super spreaders" are a big contributor to an epidemic

Transmit more than the usual

Come into contact with far more people (Job, location etc)

Why Do Some People Spread More?

• Kids
• "Super Shedders"
• Hospitals

What happens when you catch it?

Governments - Preventing Spread

• Quarantine
• Thermal Scanners
• Can't detect people who are infected but haven't got a fever yet

Stages of an epidemic

WHO keeps track of all identified viruses, animal or human, through a set of phases or stages.

Phase 1: Animals Only

Phase 2: Human Infected from Animals

Stages of an epidemic

Phase 3: Small clusters of human beings have contracted the virus in one community.

Phase 4: Human-to-human and animal-to-human virus transmission are causing outbreaks in many communities

Stages of an epidemic

Phase 5: Infection in two countries - Governments must be ready to implement their pandemic mitigation plans.

Phase 6: Global Pandemic. Illness is widespread and every governments top priority is curtailing the spread of the disease.

Stages of an epidemic

Post-Pandemic: After the increase in activity, the disease-spreading activity will begin to wane. The key at this point is to be prepared to try to prevent a second wave.

Should I be worried?

• Elderly, Pre-existing medical conditions
• The death rate in total is around 2%
• People could recover
• The numbers are starting to stabilise, especially outside of China

When to worry

• The source is not found. This makes vaccines difficult.
• The virus becomes unstable and starts to mutate.

Thanks