Close encounters of the infectious kind: methods to measure social mixing behaviour

Read, Jonathan M.; Edmunds, W. John; Riley, Steven; Lessler, Justin; Cummings, Derek A. T.

doi:10.1017/s0950268812000842

Cited by 141 publications

(170 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…Without direct verification, we were unable to address problems about underreporting and discordant rates, such as those found in Europe [31,38,39]. Without direct verification, we were unable to address problems about underreporting and discordant rates, such as those found in Europe [31,38,39].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Changing social contact patterns under tropical weather conditions relevant for the spread of infectious diseases

Chan

Hwang

2014

Epidemiol. Infect.

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Weather conditions and social contact patterns provide some clues to understanding year-round influenza epidemics in the tropics. Recent studies suggest that contact patterns may direct influenza transmission in the tropics as critically as the aerosol channel in temperate regions. To examine this argument, we analysed a representative nationwide survey dataset of contact diaries with comprehensive weather data in Taiwan. Methods we used included model-free estimated relative changes in reproduction number, R 0; relative changes in the number of contacts; and model-based estimated relative changes in mean contacts using zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. Overall, social contact patterns clearly differ by demographics (such as age groups), personal idiosyncrasies (such as personality and happiness), and social institutions (such as the division of weekdays and weekend days). Further, weather conditions also turn out to be closely linked to contact patterns under various circumstances. Fleeting contacts, for example, tend to diminish when it rains hard on weekdays, while physical contacts also decrease during weekend days with heavy rain. Frequent social contacts on weekdays and under good weather conditions, including high temperature and low absolute humidity, all might facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases in tropical regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Changing social contact patterns under tropical weather conditions relevant for the spread of infectious diseases

Chan

Hwang

2014

Epidemiol. Infect.

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“…[1–3,12] These observations can inform potential interventions including social distancing or other non-pharmaceutical interventions to mitigate the transmission of infectious diseases in these settings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Household-Based Study of Contact Networks Relevant for the Spread of Infectious Diseases in the Highlands of Peru

et al. 2015

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BackgroundFew studies have quantified social mixing in remote rural areas of developing countries, where the burden of infectious diseases is usually the highest. Understanding social mixing patterns in those settings is crucial to inform the implementation of strategies for disease prevention and control. We characterized contact and social mixing patterns in rural communities of the Peruvian highlands.Methods and FindingsThis cross-sectional study was nested in a large prospective household-based study of respiratory infections conducted in the province of San Marcos, Cajamarca-Peru. Members of study households were interviewed using a structured questionnaire of social contacts (conversation or physical interaction) experienced during the last 24 hours. We identified 9015 reported contacts from 588 study household members. The median age of respondents was 17 years (interquartile range [IQR] 4–34 years). The median number of reported contacts was 12 (IQR 8–20) whereas the median number of physical (i.e. skin-to-skin) contacts was 8.5 (IQR 5–14). Study participants had contacts mostly with people of similar age, and with their offspring or parents. The number of reported contacts was mainly determined by the participants’ age, household size and occupation. School-aged children had more contacts than other age groups. Within-household reciprocity of contacts reporting declined with household size (range 70%-100%). Ninety percent of household contact networks were complete, and furthermore, household members' contacts with non-household members showed significant overlap (range 33%-86%), indicating a high degree of contact clustering. A two-level mixing epidemic model was simulated to compare within-household mixing based on observed contact networks and within-household random mixing. No differences in the size or duration of the simulated epidemics were revealed.ConclusionThis study of rural low-density communities in the highlands of Peru suggests contact patterns are highly assortative. Study findings support the use of within-household homogenous mixing assumptions for epidemic modeling in this setting.

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“…With recent technological advances, it may be possible to enumerate social networks in greater detail and understand how those social contacts differ by socioeconomic status. 23,24 Such insights are essential to explain disparities in the burden of tuberculosis and other diseases of poverty.…”

Section: Bringing Disparities Into Focus In Global Tuberculosis Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

The epidemiological advantage of preferential targeting of tuberculosis control at the poor

Andrews

Basu

Dowdy

et al. 2015

int j tuberc lung dis

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Tuberculosis remains disproportionately concentrated among the poor, yet known determinants of tuberculosis reactivation may fail to explain observed disparities in disease rates according to wealth. Reviewing data on tuberculosis disparities in India and the wealth distribution of known tuberculosis risk factors, we describe how social mixing patterns could be contributing to tuberculosis disparities. Wealth-assortative mixing, wherein individuals are more likely to contact others from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, amplifies smaller differences in risk of tuberculosis, resulting in large population-level disparities. As disparities and assortativeness increase, tuberculosis becomes more difficult to control, an effect that is obscured by looking at population averages of epidemiological parameters, such as case detection rates. We illustrate how tuberculosis control efforts may benefit from preferential targeting toward the poor. In India, an equivalent-scale intervention could have a substantially greater impact if targeted to those living below the poverty line, compared with a population-wide strategy. In addition to potential efficiencies in targeting higher-risk populations, tuberculosis control efforts would reduce more secondary tuberculosis cases, per primary case diagnosed, if they were preferentially targeted to the poor. We highlight the need to collect programmatic data on tuberculosis disparities and explicitly incorporate equity considerations in tuberculosis control plans.

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Close encounters of the infectious kind: methods to measure social mixing behaviour

Cited by 141 publications

References 117 publications

Changing social contact patterns under tropical weather conditions relevant for the spread of infectious diseases

Changing social contact patterns under tropical weather conditions relevant for the spread of infectious diseases

A Household-Based Study of Contact Networks Relevant for the Spread of Infectious Diseases in the Highlands of Peru

The epidemiological advantage of preferential targeting of tuberculosis control at the poor

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