Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

As opposed to a regional pandemic.

Various definitions of "pandemic" suggest that it refers to a disease
that is more widespread than an epidemic but not necessarily affecting
the whole of the world's population.

To be fair to the newscasters, and the editors who write their
outpourings, "pandemic" is not a word in widespread use by the general
population. Its meaning needs to be clarified by the addition of global.

WordNet:
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=pandemic

   Noun
   
   pandemic (an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring
   throughout a region or even throughout the world)
   
   Adjective
   
   pandemic (epidemic over a wide geographical area) "a pandemic
   outbreak of malaria"
   pandemic (existing everywhere) "pandemic fear of nuclear war"

OED:

   pandemic, adj. and n.

   adj.
   1. a. Of a disease: epidemic over a very large area; affecting a
   large proportion of a population.

   n.
   A pandemic disease; an outbreak of such a disease.

   1876 J. VAN DUYN & E. C. SEGUIN tr. E. L. Wagner Man. Gen. Pathol.
   141 An epidemic exists in one community only,..but in its greater
   extension, over a whole land, it is called a pandemic.

[US] National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/microbes/glossary.htm

   pandemics — diseases that affect many people in different regions
   around the world.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation:
http://www.sfaf.org/custom/glossary.aspx?l=en&a=P

   pandemic: a widespread disease outbreak affecting the population of
   an extensive area of the world.

http://www.immunize.cpha.ca/en/specific-groups/childactivities/influenza/terms.aspx

   Pandemic:
   An outbreak of disease that spreads throughout the world

I suppose that by definition a ( source:
http://everything.explained.at/pandemic/ ) a pandemic is across a large
region (such as a continent) or worldwide, so by referring to it as a
"global" pandemic they are emphasising that it has the potential to affect
different parts of the globe. However, you are quick right that this implies
there is such a thing as a local pandemic, which is probably meaningless
(wouldn't it then be an epidemic?))

It may be that newscasters are trying to address the possibility that many
people don't know what a pandemic is and so are trying to emphasise that it
has the potential to affect people everywhere. On the other hand its perhaps
more likly that newscasters simply want to make it sound more newsworthy
(which it is without them jazzing it up).