Airborne Disease: An airborne disease is an illness that can be transmitted through the air, typically via respiratory droplets or aerosols released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, or breathes. These infectious agents can be inhaled by others, leading to new infections. Airborne diseases can vary in their modes of transmission, but they often require close proximity to an infected individual.
Example: Tuberculosis (TB) is a classic example of an airborne disease. The bacteria that cause TB can be spread through the air when a person with active TB in their lungs coughs or sneezes. Other examples include Influenza and COVID-19.
Pandemic Disease: A pandemic disease refers to an outbreak of an infectious disease that occurs over a wide geographic area, often affecting multiple countries or continents, and typically infecting a large number of people. The term "pandemic" indicates the scale of the disease spread, rather than its severity.
Example: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is a recent instance of a pandemic disease. It began in late 2019 and quickly spread worldwide, leading to widespread illness and significant public health measures aimed at controlling its spread. Other historical examples of pandemics include the H1N1 influenza pandemic (2009) and the Black Death (bubonic plague) in the 14th century.