Question

1. The table below shows the pattern of reported cases of cholera infection in the world. Describe the areas that may be identified as have (i) sporadic infection; (ii) endemic infection; (iii) epidemic infection. Justify your answer.

Number of reported cased(X 1000)

Period reported	India	South East Asia	North America	Africa
Jan-Mar	250	50	0	30
Apr-Jun	200	30	0	0
Jul-Sep	300	0	0	20
Oct-Dec	250	0	0.5	0

Answer 1

ANSWER -

• North America and Africa - exhibits Sporadic Infection
• India - exhibits Epidemic Infection
• South East Asia - exhibits Endemic Infection

EXPLANATION

• Sporadic infection - follows a pattern in which - the diseases occur occasionally,scatterly , isolated and generally infrequently.The word sporadic itself means 'scattered about '.A sporadic pattern can be a starting point for an epidemic if the conditions are favorable for the spread.In this type the cases will be very few,will be separated widely in time and place,thus we cant find any connection.

Here in the case of both North America as well as Africa - the above said conditions are observed - In africa the infections are occurring infrequently while in North America the cases occurs scatterly/occasionally.

• Epidemic Infection - (word meaning ; epi = upon and demos = people) ; this type exhibits a pattern in which the disease spreads quickly to more people than we expect ; the spread will be unpredictable and will be spread rapidly among large number too ;this will be occurring in a short span of time within a geographic region.

Here on observing the pattern in India ; it is a case of epidemic infection ; the spread is occurring continuously throughout the months without any gap and also to a large number of people.

• Endemic Infection - (word meaning - within people ) ; follows a pattern in which the disease will be constantly present (even can be zero / at a low level ) in a particular Geographic area within a population .

Here in South East Asia - we can observe the above conditions .