Preposition: of

• cholera: A very serious epidemic of cholera struck Welshpool in 1848 causing many deaths.

• obesity: The epidemic of obesity is followed by an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes.

• poliomyelitis: The first epidemic of poliomyelitis in a tropical nation was contemporaneous with the introduction of the pesticide DDT in that country.

• smallpox: The treatise impressed Empress Catherine II of Russia at a moment when a severe epidemic of smallpox was sweeping through Russia.

• influenza: Annual vaccines are produced for routine use in protecting humans during seasonal epidemics of influenza.

Converse of object

• curb: Certainly animal tests are failing to curb the current epidemic of drug-induced disease.

• plague: Moreover, as we know, the plague epidemics of early modern London did not hit all areas of the capital with equal force.

Adjective modifier

• foot-and-mouth: The incident comes two years to the day when the first case in the foot-and-mouth epidemic was reported in England.

• typhoid: Hundreds of thousands have died from hunger or the cholera and typhoid epidemics which have swept the country.

• devastating: During the 19 th century, cholera spread to Europe and the Americas, causing several devastating epidemics.

• vcjd: Research Paul's current research is concerned with developing and applying statistical and mathematical models for the vCJD epidemic in the UK.

• avian: The other great uncertainty is the effect of an avian flu epidemic in the EU.

Modifies a noun

• typhus: These include infections of the skin and eyes ( e.g. trachoma ) and infections carried by lice, e.g. louse-borne epidemic typhus.

• proportion: Low back pain has reached epidemic proportions in the western world.

Noun used with modifier

• cholera: The cholera epidemic of 1832 had been the worst ever experienced in Scotland.

• obesity: The ' big ' factor is a part of the obesity epidemic, " she adds.

• smallpox: In 1864 there was a smallpox epidemic in the district.

• typhus: While he student he worked with local doctors during a typhus epidemic.

• influenza: He was probably a victim of the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918.

• flu: The Spanish flu epidemic which swept Europe in 1918 was a mass killer.