DEFINITION: 

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an outbreak as "the occurrence of disease cases in excess of normal expectancy". According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), an outbreak is classified as an epidemic "when there is a sudden increase in cases", while a pandemic is an "event in which a disease spreads across several countries and affects a large number of people."

HISTORY: 

Del Norte County has been impacted by outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics since humans occupied the land. While diseases existed prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in Northern California, as native tribes were exposed to diseases to which they had never been exposed and had no immunity, many tribal members contracted illnesses such as