The Endemic and Pandemic

The Endemic and Pandemic

 

The Endemic and Pandemic – Today Current Affairs

(GS Paper-II, Polity,Constitution,Governance,Social Justice and International Relations) 

Source: The Hindu

Why in News? The Hindu analysis

The United Kingdom has relaxed limitations and California has taken new steps to treat Covid-19 as an endemic disease.

What does it imply to be in the endemic stage? The Hindu Analysis

Endemic means that the virus will continue to circulate throughout the population, with periodic ups and downs when the virus’s conditions are favourable and human conditions are not.

Ifthe frequencies of an infection remain constant in a certain geographic place, it is said to be endemic. It depicts that the disease-causing pathogen is likely to continue in circulation without generating large-scale outbreaks.

The amount of susprcted people in the population, vaccination rates, and the introduction of novel variations that can avoid the immune response antibodies developed against SARS-CoV-2 also play a role.So, We can presume that a disease is endemic if a representative sero-survey shows over 90% positive. But a neutralisation investigation is needed to evaluate if these antibodies can effectively guard against the present variations.

What are the distinctions between the various stages? The Hindu Analysis

  • Pandemics, epidemics, and endemics are defined by the rate at which a disease spreads, according to the WHO.
  • Difference between an epidemic and a pandemic is not in the intensity of the disease, but in its spread.
  • The epidemic occurs when a disease spreads quickly and unpredictably in a specific place.
  • The Pandemic is a disease spread internationally or over a large area, it is called a pandemic.Example – H1N1 (2009) and Spanish flu (1918)
  • An endemic illness is one that is constantly present in a certain community at a lower and more steady level, even if cases increase under certain circumstances.
  • Pandemics are not officially declared by the WHO. A global health emergency is the highest degree of alert, and Covid-19 has warranted that distinction since January 2020.

Endemic makes us safer? The Hindu Analysis

The Endemic does not suggest that a pathogen has been tamed by evolution and that life has returned to normal.

The endemic disease is one that is both widespread and fatal.

For example,Malaria killed over 600,000 people in 2020, while 10 million people had tuberculosis and 1.5 million died.

According to the US measles epidemic in 2019 demonstrated, endemic infection does not ensure stability; there can still be disruptive waves from endemic illnesses.

The Delta variant,high prevalence in emergence of Omicron, inequitable vaccine distribution to low-income nations, and lax control measures in certain wealthier countries provide fertile ground for SARS-CoV-2 to evolve.

How will control measures change if the disease becomes endemic?

  • The easing of restrictions has been pushed but there is a need to maintain high levels of testing and good genomic surveillance.
  • The new variants can be found by:
    • conducting a general survey
    • sequencing cases immediately wherever there are more cases
    • keeping a very close eye on hospitalised cases
  • When a virus replicates more, the greater chances that problematic variants will arise, most probably where spread is highest.
  • Herd immunity occurs when a large proportion of a community becomes immune to a disease through infection or vaccines, halting the disease from spreading.
  • Threshold percentage has gradually been increasing from about 60-70% during the original strain to 85% with Delta and upwards of 90% with Omicron.
  • The better way to prevent dangerous or more-transmissible variants from emerging is to stop unconstrained spread which requires integrated public-health interventions, including vaccine equity.

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