What term describes a pandemic in animals?

• A. Panzootic
• B. Endemic
• C. Epidemic
• D. Zoonosis

Answer: (A)

Understanding how disease outbreaks across animal populations are named helps you choose the right term. A panzootic describes a disease that spreads across a wide range of animal species and across large geographic areas, essentially a pandemic among animals. The prefix pan- means "all" and zoo- relates to animals, so panzootic conveys widespread involvement of animals. In contrast, endemic means the disease is consistently present in a population or area at a baseline level. Epidemic refers to a surge of cases in a particular population or region, not necessarily across many species or globally. Zoonosis describes diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, not primarily about the geographic or species-wide spread among animals. Therefore, for a pandemic that affects many animal species across broad regions, panzootic is the correct term.