Scott McPherson's Web Presence

Can we please stop the overuse and misuse of the word "Pandemic?" 

Like many of you, I subscribe to Google Alerts to get information on influenza and other diseases.  One of my keywords is "pandemic."  And while it assures me of the latest links to articles and blogs regarding pandemic preparedness, it also sends me some pretty needless stuff -- plus it gets my blood boiling sometimes.

First, we can understand when Pandemic Studios comes up, and there's not much we can do about that.  Pandemic Studios is a video game company (or interactive entertainment company, as their trade association likes to say).  Pandemic is in the news quite a lot, because they a) are very good at what they do, and b) just got bought out by Bono's video game investment capital firm.

But it's the other references that drive me crazy.  We have the "obesity pandemic;" the "drug addiction" pandemic; the "insomnia pandemic"; the "stress pandemic;' we even have a "sexual violence pandemic," according to the UN Secretary General.

My gosh, what we really have here is a pandemic pandemic.  The overuse of the word, the misuse of the word, has itself reached pandemic status. My favorite definition of the word comes from the Website MedicineNet.com, and the link is: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4751 .

Pandemic: An epidemic (a sudden outbreak) that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world.

By contrast:

• An epidemic affects more than the expected number of cases of disease occurring in a community or region during a given period of time. A sudden severe outbreak within a region or a group as, for example, AIDS in Africa or AIDS in intravenous drug users.
• An endemic is present in a community at all times but in low frequency. An endemic is continuous as in the case of malaria in some areas of the world or as with illicit drugs in some neighborhoods.

The word "pandemic" comes from the Greek "pan-", "all" + "demos", "people or population" = "pandemos" = "all the people." A pandemic affects all (nearly all) of the people. By contrast, "epi-" means "upon." An epidemic is visited upon the people. And "en-" means "in." An endemic is in the people.

Of course, in the influenza world, the definition is refined.  From the WHO:

There is only one pandemic in the world today: HIV/AIDS.  That's it.  There are epidemics of all kinds of diseases, but only one true pandemic -- at least right now.  So let's curtail the use of the word "pandemic" so it carries the necessary and appropriate weight when a real pandemic does happen.  Please spread the word and flog the next reporter -- or blogger -- who misuses the word.