ArticleBMC public health2025
What makes an epidemic a disaster: the future of epidemics within the EM-DAT International Disaster Database.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Monsoon Flooding and Undernutrition Among Children in Bangladesh: A Population-Level Analysis of the 2017 Monsoon Flood.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2026Article
- Underestimated agricultural losses due to flooding.Science advances · 2026Article
- The Underexplored Patterns of Respiratory Risks Associated With Climate Disasters.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2026Article
- Global trends of pandemic-prone and epidemic-prone disease outbreaks in 2024.BMJ global health · 2026Review
- The emergency events database, EM-DAT, must be preserved as a global public good.International journal of public health · 2026Article
- Near-global Agro-climatological Drought Monitoring Dataset.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Anomaly detection and early risk identification in digital disaster response-based on deep learning in public health.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Effects of extreme climate events and child mortality on total fertility rate in Bangladesh.Heliyon · 2024Article
- The social costs of tropical cyclones.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Livestock, pathogens, vectors, and their environment: A causal inference-based approach to estimating the pathway-specific effect of livestock on human African trypanosomiasis risk.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Well-being Effects of Natural Disasters: Evidence from China's Wenchuan Earthquake.Journal of happiness studies · 2023Article
- The CHASMS conceptual model of cascading disasters and social vulnerability: The COVID-19 case example.International journal of disaster risk reduction : IJDRR · 2020Article
- Considering flood risk in spatial development planning: A land use conflict analysis approach.Jamba (Potchefstroom, South Africa) · 2019Article
- Review
- Summary of suggestions from the Task Force for Mass Critical Care summit, January 26-27, 2007.Chest · 2008Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundReporting on and monitoring epidemics is a public health priority. Several initiatives and platforms provide epidemiological data, such as the EM-DAT International Disaster Database, which has 1525 epidemics and their impact reported since 1900, including 892 epidemics between 2000 and 2023. However, EM-DAT has inconsistent coverage and deficiencies regarding the systematic monitoring of epidemics data due to the lack of a standardized methodology to define what will be included under an epidemic disaster.
methodsWe conducted a sequential study that included an online survey of experts in infectious diseases, public health emergencies, and related data, followed by committee discussions with disaster experts. This approach aimed to identify appropriate definitions and entry criteria for archiving disease outbreak events.
resultsThe survey had 21 respondents from universities and international organizations, with experts primarily specialized in infectious disease surveillance. Experts agreed that epidemics should be considered as disasters. Experts cited challenges in defining epidemic thresholds. However, they proposed pathogen-based criteria and agreed that disruption to society, especially to the healthcare system, serves as a determinant of epidemic disasters. The experts favored deaths and confirmed cases as key indicators, alongside suggestions on refining EM-DAT's entry criteria and improving epidemic impact assessment. DISCUSSION: This article offers valuable insights into epidemic disasters, a topic previously underdefined in the literature, thereby enhancing understanding for policymakers and public health professionals.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.