Definition of Endemic Disease
(noun) A disease that is consistently present in people in a specific location or class position.
Examples of Endemic Disease
- Malaria is endemic to the peoples of Africa and Latin America.
- Deficiency diseases occur in areas stricken by poverty.
Endemic Disease Pronunciation
Syllabification: en·dem·ic dis·ease
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /en-dEm-ik di-zEEz/
- British English – /en-dEm-ik di-zEEz/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ɛnˈdɛmɪk dɪˈziz/
- British English – /ɛnˈdɛmɪk dɪˈziːz/
Usage Notes
- Plural: endemic diseases
- Endemic diseases are of particular interest to sociologists due to structural factors affecting health.
Additional Information
- Medical Sociology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “endemic” and “disease” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Dobson, Mary J. 2007. Disease: The Extraordinary Stories behind History’s Deadliest Killers. London: Quercus.
- Rochefort, David A., and Kevin P. Donnelly. 2012. Foreign Remedies: What the Experience of Other Nations can Tell Us about Next Steps in Reforming U.S. Health Care. London: Routledge.
- Scambler, Graham, and Sasha Jane Scambler, eds. 2010. New Directions in the Sociology of Chronic and Disabling Conditions: Assaults on the Lifeworld. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Turner, Bryan S. 2009. The Routledge International Handbook of Globalization Studies. London: Routledge.
- Weiss, Gregory L., and Lynne E. Lonnquist. 2017. The Sociology of Health, Healing, and Illness. 9th ed. New York: Routledge.
Related Terms
Works Consulted
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Bender, David A. 2014. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kent, Michael. 2007. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Last, John M, ed. 2007. A Dictionary of Public Health. New York: Oxford University Press.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Martin, Elizabeth, ed. 2010. Concise Medical Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Martin, Elizabeth, and Robert Hine, eds. 2008. A Dictionary of Biology. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Martin, Elizabeth, and Tanya A. McFerran, eds. 2014. A Dictionary of Nursing. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Endemic Disease
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “endemic disease.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved November 28, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/endemic-disease/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
endemic disease. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/endemic-disease/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “endemic disease.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/endemic-disease/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“endemic disease.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/endemic-disease/>.