Pandemic

A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan "all" and δῆμος demos "people") is an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, 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 generally exclude recurrences of seasonal flu. Throughout history there have been a number of pandemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis. One of the most devastating pandemic was the Black Death, killing over 75 million people in 1350. The most recent pandemics include the HIV pandemic as well as the 1918 and 2009 H1N1 pandemics.

Definition and stages

A pandemic is an epidemic occurring on a scale which crosses international boundaries, usually affecting a large number of people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has 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 and it will be out of control until we stop it.

Pandemic (comics)

Pandemic (Richard Palance) is a fictional supervillan in Marvel Comics was first mentioned in X-Men vol. 2 #188 (2006) and appeared in X-Men vol. 2 #194 (2007). He was created by Mike Carey and Humberto Ramos.

Fictional character biography

Pandemic was a geneticist named Dr. Richard Palance. A colleague of Professor Charles Xavier, Dr. Palance was consulted by Xavier when the latter requested his aid in helping Rogue (who, at the time, Xavier had admitted as a member of his X-Men) control her absorbing ability. Obtaining a DNA sample from Rogue and mutating it into a viral strain called Strain 87, Dr. Palance theorized that he would gain immortality with Rogue's ability to absorb a person's powers, skills, memories, and personality upon physical contact. Injecting Strain 87 into himself proved to be only a partial success as he only gained the ability to copy the mutant powers of others upon contact.

After establishing a hospital called the Fordyce Clinic, Dr. Palance used the hospital to lure mutants so as to absorb more powers and secretly experiment with splicing mutant DNA into viruses and then infecting baseline human subjects, with the intent of discerning if mutation can be contracted like a disease. While continuing to amass several abilities, Dr. Palance began calling himself Pandemic and sought to create Strain 88 to replicate Rogue's power to the point where it can be used to permanently absorb a person's entire personality, leaving the victim summarily erased.

Pandemic (novel)

Pandemic is a science fiction thriller novel by Scott Sigler. It is the sequel to Sigler's Contagious, and like its predecessors was released in print versions and audiobook.

Plot Summary

Following up Scott Sigler’s INFECTED, the human race faces extinction by an enemy that modifies our bodies to use them as weapons.

At the end of Contagious, Doctor Margaret Montoya was singlehandedly responsible for the worst massacre on American soil killing millions, but a few consider her a hero. A hero that saved billions of lives. Emotionally torn, her guilt has turned her into a shut-in, but the enemy has regained its strength by launching a small container filled with deadly microorganisms just before its probe was destroyed. Margaret will need to rediscover herself as she is being called into service once again.

Characters

References