Final answer:
A 'plague' is a disease caused by Yersinia pestis, while a 'pandemic' is an infectious disease that spreads across multiple populations or worldwide. 'Famine' refers to widespread food scarcity, and 'intermittently' means happening at irregular intervals. The Black Death is an example of both a plague and a pandemic due to its wide impact.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Pandemic, Epidemic, and Plague
To match the vocabulary word with the correct definition, here are the clarifications:
- Plague is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which can be transmitted by flea bites or other means. A known historical example of a plague is the Black Death, which was one of the most devastating pandemics.
- A pandemic refers to an infectious disease epidemic that spreads across multiple populations or continents, or even worldwide. The Black Death is also an example of a pandemic, as it affected a large geographical region and had a significant impact on human populations.
- Famine is the widespread scarcity of food, which is not directly related to the spread of diseases but can be a consequence of the social and economic impact of a pandemic.
- Intermittently means not continuous, or occurring at irregular intervals, which can be used to describe the occurrence of diseases or other events.
In epidemiology, the differentiation between epidemic and pandemic is based on the scale of the spread of the disease. While an epidemic refers to a large-scale outbreak within a specific community or region, a pandemic covers a much broader scope, often spanning multiple countries or continents.