pandemic adj
1. epidemic over a wide geographical area; "a pandemic outbreak of malaria"
2. existing everywhere; "pandemic fear of nuclear war" n : an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world

Pandemic \Pan*dem"ic\, a. [L. pandemus, Gr. ?, ?; ?, ?, all + ? the people: cf. F. pand['e]mique.] Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic. -- n. A pandemic disease. --Harvey.

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A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan "all" + δῆμος demos "people") is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics exclude seasonal flu, unless the flu of the season is a pandemic. Throughout history there have been a number of pandemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis. More recent pandemics include the HIV pandemic and the 2009 flu pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has produced a six-stage classification that describes the process by which a novel influenza virus moves from the first few infections in humans through to a pandemic. This starts with the virus mostly infecting animals, with a few cases where animals infect people, then moves through the stage where the virus begins to spread directly between people, and ends with a pandemic when infections from the new virus have spread worldwide.

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