Outbreak

An outbreak is an event that sometimes cannot be controlled for several months, years, or longer. The word "outbreak" is a term used in epidemiology. It describes what happens when a disease becomes widespread that first thought. An outbreak can affect a small group or affect thousands of people across the world. An outbreak can be epidemic.

Types

• Common source - all victims got the disease from the same source (such as water pollution)
  • Continuous source - when the disease continues to spread for a longer time.
  • Point source - when the disease continues to spread for a short time.
• Propagated - disease is spread from person to person.
• Behavioral risk related - disease is spread by a person's behavior such as sexually transmitted diseases and malnutrition.
• Zoonotic - disease is spread from animal to animal.

Patterns of an outbreak

• Endemic - a common disease such as influenza, measles, mumps, pneumonia, colds and smallpox. This is characterized by a place, group or activity.
• Epidemic - when the disease affect a large group of people.
• Pandemic - when the disease affects people worldwide.

References

The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: outbreak.