There are different kinds of seizures, and each person's seizures are unique to them. If a person has a single seizure, they do not have epilepsy. Just as there are different kinds of seizures, there are different kinds of epilepsy. Epilepsy is a syndrome. A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and physical signs that occurs due to a specific disease.
Symptoms are problems that a person experiences due to an illness.
Fever and pain are two examples of symptoms. Physical signs are abnormalities which can be seen on a physical examination. Redness and swelling are two examples of physical signs. In the syndrome of epilepsy, seizures are one of the symptoms. That means that approximately 8 million American have had a seizure, while 2.5 million Americans have epilepsy.