An epidemic is an outbreak of a disease that affects a large number of individuals in a population at the same time, derived from the Greek roots 'epi' (among, upon) and 'demos' (people, district).
The Greek roots epi, meaning “among, upon,” and demos, meaning “people, district,” help to inform us that the word epidemics refers to diseases that occur upon a group of people or within a specific district or population. The concept of an epidemic is a large-scale outbreak of a disease that affects an unexpectedly high number of individuals within a population at the same time. If such an outbreak were to spread across multiple populations or globally, it would be termed a pandemic. Conversely, diseases that occur regularly at a predictable rate within a population are known as endemic diseases.
The word epidemics in paragraph 1 means large-scale disease outbreaks in a population. This is because the Greek roots epi, meaning "among, upon," and demos, meaning "people, district," help us understand the term. An epidemic occurs when a disease spreads rapidly and affects a large number of individuals within a specific population or area.