Endemic refers to diseases that are...

Endemic refers to diseases that are...

• A. Always present in a population
• B. Appear only during outbreaks
• C. Are eradicated
• D. Spread globally

Answer: (A)

Endemic means a disease is consistently present in a population or geographic area at a baseline level, occurring regularly over time rather than only popping up during outbreaks. It doesn’t imply the disease affects everyone, nor that it is ever completely eliminated or spreading everywhere at once. So the best way to describe endemic is that the disease is always present in a population. This differs from an outbreak or epidemic (sudden surge above the expected level), eradication (no longer present anywhere), and pandemic (global spread).

Endemic means a disease is consistently present in a population or geographic area at a baseline level, occurring regularly over time rather than only popping up during outbreaks. It doesn’t imply the disease affects everyone, nor that it is ever completely eliminated or spreading everywhere at once. So the best way to describe endemic is that the disease is always present in a population. This differs from an outbreak or epidemic (sudden surge above the expected level), eradication (no longer present anywhere), and pandemic (global spread).