A pandemic is an epidemic of disease that has spread across a large region. A widespread endemic disease, stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics exclude recurrences of seasonal flu. Throughout history, there have been a number such as smallpox and tuberculosis. One of the most devastating pandemics was the Black Death, which killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century; the only current pandemic is HIV/AIDS. Other recent pandemics are the 2009 flu pandemic. A pandemic is an epidemic occurring on a scale which crosses international boundaries affecting a large number of people. Pandemics can occur in important agricultural organisms or in other organisms; the World Health Organization applied a six-stage classification that describes the process by which a novel influenza virus moves from the first few infections in humans through to a pandemic. This starts with the virus infecting animals, with a few cases where animals infect people moves through the stage where the virus begins to spread directly between people, ends with a pandemic when infections from the new virus have spread worldwide.

In February 2020, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic clarified that, "there is no official category... For the sake of clarification, WHO does not use the old system of 6 phases — that ranged from phase 1 to phase 6 — that some people may be familiar with from H1N1 in 2009."A disease or condition is not a pandemic because it is widespread or kills many people. For instance, cancer is responsible for many deaths but is not considered a pandemic because the disease is not infectious or contagious. In a virtual press conference in May 2009 on the influenza pandemic, Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General ad interim for Health Security and Environment, WHO said "An easy way to think about pandemic … is to say: a pandemic is a global outbreak. You might ask yourself:'What is a global outbreak'? Global outbreak means that we see both spread of the agent … and we see disease activities in addition to the spread of the virus."In planning for a possible influenza pandemic, the WHO published a document on pandemic preparedness guidance in 1999, revised in 2005 and in February 2009, defining phases and appropriate actions for each phase in an aide memoir titled WHO pandemic phase descriptions and main actions by phase.

The 2009 revision, including definitions of a pandemic and the phases leading to its declaration, were finalized in February 2009. The pandemic H1N1 2009 virus mentioned in the document. All versions of this document refer to influenza; the phases are defined by the spread of the disease. HIV originated in Africa, spread to the United States via Haiti between 1966 and 1972. AIDS is a pandemic, with infection rates as high as 25% in southern and eastern Africa. In 2006, the HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women in South Africa was 29%. Effective education about safer sexual practices and bloodborne infection precautions training have helped to slow down infection rates in several African countries sponsoring national education programs. There have been a number of significant epidemics and pandemics recorded in human history zoonoses which came about with the domestication of animals, such as influenza and tuberculosis. There have been a number of significant epidemics that deserve mention above the "mere" destruction of cities: Plague of Athens, from 430 to 426 BC.

During the Peloponnesian War, typhoid fever killed a quarter of the Athenian troops, a quarter of the population over four years. This disease fatally weakened the dominance of Athens, but the sheer virulence of the disease prevented its wider spread; the exact cause of the plague was unknown for many years. In January 2006, researchers from the University of Athens analyzed teeth recovered from a mass grave underneath the city, confirmed the presence of bacteria responsible for typhoid. Antonine Plague, from 165 to 180 AD. Smallpox brought to the Italian peninsula by soldiers returning from the Near East. At the height of a second outbreak, the Plague of Cyprian, which may have been the same disease, 5,000 people a day were said to be dying in Rome. Plague of Justinian, from 541 to 750, was the first recorded outbreak of the bubonic plague, it started in Egypt, reached Constantinople the following spring, killing 10,000 a day at its height, 40% of the city's inhabitants. The plague went on to eliminate a quarter to a half of the human population that it struck throughout the known world.

It caused Europe's population to drop by around 50% between 550 AD and 700 AD. Black Death, from 1331 to 1353; the total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 million people. Eight hundred years after the last outbreak, the plague returned to Europe. Starting in Asia, the disease reached Mediterranean and western Europe in 1348, killed an estimated 20 to 30 million Europeans in six years.

Westfield Township is a township in Dodge County, United States. The population was 421 at the 2000 census. Westfield Township was organized in 1866. According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 36.2 square miles, all of it land. As of the census of 2000, there were 421 people, 151 households, 125 families residing in the township; the population density was 11.6 people per square mile. There were 157 housing units at an average density of 4.3/sq mi. The racial makeup of the township was 98.34% White, 0.95% African American, 0.48% from other races, 0.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.43% of the population. There were 151 households out of which 38.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 80.1% were married couples living together, 1.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 16.6% were non-families. 11.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older.

The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.06. In the township the population was spread out with 28.5% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.5 males. The median income for a household in the township was $48,333, the median income for a family was $55,313. Males had a median income of $32,167 versus $24,750 for females; the per capita income for the township was $18,807. About 4.8% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 14.0% of those age 65 or over

Fred Cox "Ox" McKibbon was a college football player and baseball player and baseball coach. McKibbon was a prominent tackle and end for Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football teams from 1924 to 1926, selected All-Southern in 1926. Fred Russell dubbed the 1924 season "the most eventful season in the history of Vanderbilt football." In a 13 to 0 victory over Auburn in 1924, McKibbon completed a pass run in for a touchdown by Hek Wakefield. McKibbon was a starter that year for the 16 to 6 win over Minnesota, Vanderbilt's first win over a Western school, he threw a touchdown to Gil Reese in the game. "It was the best coached team we saw this year," said the Minnesota newspapermen. One account reads "Fred McKibbon left Minneapolis dizzy with his crafty timing of aerial shots." He coached baseball at Nashville's Hume-Fogg High School in the 1930s and 1940s