Health Care

Epidemics

Sudden outbreaks of a disease in a country or region not previously recognized in that area, or a rapid increase in the number of new cases of a previous existing endemic disease. Epidemics can also refer to outbreaks of disease in animal or plant populations.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

Sudden outbreaks of a disease in a country or region not previously recognized in that area, or a rapid increase in the number of new cases of a previous existing endemic disease. Epidemics can also refer to outbreaks of disease in animal or plant populations.

MeSH Record

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MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

9 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings classification, economics, ethics, history, legislation & jurisprudence, prevention & control, psychology, statistics & numerical data, veterinary.

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

coordinate IM with specific disease / epidemiol (IM) & specify geographic location if pertinent; differentiate from DISEASE OUTBREAKS, follow terminology in text

MeSH Record

History Note

2011; use DISEASE OUTBREAKS 1968-2010

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Disease Outbreaks (1966-2010)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Number

  1. N06.850w.290w.200w

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Epidemics. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D058872. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D058872
  2. Epidemics. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemic
  3. Epidemics. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44512