A disease epidemic is defined as a widespread occurrence of an infectious agent or condition throughout a community at a particular time. Among many conditions, epidemics may be the result of an increase in the virulence strength or amount of the infectious agent, or through a change that makes the person more susceptible to the infectious agent. An outbreak occurs when a limited geographic area is hit with a widespread epidemic.
In today's modern age of advanced medicines and super-antibiotics, it's easy to be fooled into thinking that disease epidemics are a thing of the past. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015 is a stark reminder that science, medicine, and people are not infallible against virulent agents in the environment. Though the advancements in medicine have curtailed the frequency of deadly disease outbreaks, we are not risk-free. Watch the video for the top 10 terrifying modern day epidemics.
