Broadening the Epidemiological Understanding of Airborne Infections: From Tuberculosis to Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the Concept of the “SuperDemic”
Sunil Kumar Raina
Journal of Public Health and Primary Care · 2025-09
Abstract
This article introduces the concept of the “SuperDemic” – a large-scale, high-impact infectious event that triggers profound and enduring changes at multiple levels of society. By exploring TB and COVID-19 through this lens, an argument for a reframing of epidemiological thinking that goes beyond the classical epidemic–pandemic binary and calls for a multidisciplinary, community-centered approach to global health preparedness is being attempted.
MeSH terms
- Epidemiology
- Cognitive reframing
- Tuberculosis
- Preparedness
- Pandemic
- Medicine
- Virology
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
- Coronavirus
- Disease
- Public health
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
- Infectious disease (medical specialty)
- 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
- Argument (complex analysis)
- Global health
- Environmental health
- Betacoronavirus
- Coronavirus Infections
- Event (particle physics)
- Immunology