An entomologist named Alan A. Berryman addressed it some years ago in a paper titled “The Theory and Classification of Outbreaks.” He began with basics: “From the ecological point of view an outbreak can be defined as an explosive increase in the abundance of a particular species that occurs over a relatively short period of time.” Then, in the same bland tone, he noted: “From this perspective, the most serious outbreak on the planet earth is that of the species Homo sapiens.”
