What are the differences between these three? 

OUTBREAK 

A disease outbreak happens when a disease occurs in greater numbers than expected in a community or region or during a season. An outbreak may occur in one community or even extend to several countries. It can last from days to years. 

Sometimes a single case of a contagious disease is considered an outbreak. This may be true if it is an unknown disease, is new to a community, or has been absent from a population for a long time. 

EPIDEMIC 

An epidemic occurs when an infectious disease spreads rapidly to many people. In 2003, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic took the lives of nearly 800 people worldwide. 

PANDEMIC 

A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. HIV/AIDS is an example of one of the most destructive global pandemics in history. 

Influenza pandemics have occurred more than once. 

• Spanish influenza killed 40-50 million people in 1918. (675,000 in the United States) 
• Asian influenza killed 2 million people in 1957. (69,800 in the United States) 
• Hong Kong influenza killed 1 million people in 1968. (33,800 in the United States) 
• H1N1 (Swine Flu) killed 18,300 in the United States in 2010. 

An influenza pandemic occurs when: 

• A new subtype of virus arises. This means humans have little or no immunity to it. Everyone is at risk. 
• The virus spreads easily from person to person, such as through sneezing or coughing. 
• The virus begins to cause serious illness worldwide. With past flu pandemics, the virus reached all parts of the globe within six to nine months. With the speed of air travel today, public health experts believe an influenza pandemic could spread much more quickly. A pandemic can occur in waves. And all parts of the world may not be affected at the same time. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides an influenza pandemic alert system, with a scale ranging from Phase 1 (a low risk of a flu pandemic) to Phase 6 (a full-blown pandemic): 

• Phase 1: A virus in animals has caused no known infections in humans. 
• Phase 2: An animal flu virus has caused infection in humans. 
• Phase 3: Sporadic cases or small clusters of disease occur in humans. Human-to-human transmission, if any, is insufficient to cause community-level outbreaks. 
• Phase 4: The risk for a pandemic is greatly increased but not certain. 
• Phase 5: Spread of disease between humans is occurring in more than one country of one WHO region. 
• Phase 6: Community-level outbreaks are in at least one additional country in a different WHO region from phase 5. A global pandemic is under way. 

2014 – Ebola. The threat is here. How well the government is prepared, or inspired, to control it is yet to be seen. Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever) is a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%. It is one of the world’s most virulent diseases. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are health workers, family members and others in close contact with sick people and deceased patients. 

According to the above chart this is considered a Phase 6. Time will tell how well it is controlled in the United States.  While Pandemics may not be initiated by man, such as wars, they can be controlled by man. They can play a huge effect on depopulating the Globe of the "useless eaters" if that is the intention. Time will tell how well our government protects the citizens.