Posted on 02/15/2017 8:00:11 AM PST by BenLurkin
The analysis, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows nearly two thirds of cases (61%) were caused by 3% of infected people.
The young and old were more likely to have been "super-spreaders".
It is hoped understanding their role in spreading the infection will help contain the next outbreak.
...
The study looked at cases in and around the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown.
By looking at the pattern of where and when cases emerged, the researchers could tell how many people each infected person was passing the deadly virus onto.
Prof Steven Riley, one of the researchers at Imperial College London, told the BBC News website: "Most cases had a relatively short infectious period and generated low numbers of secondary infections, whereas a small number had longer infectious periods and generated more infections. ...
Children under 15-years-old and adults over 45 were more likely to be spreading the virus.
"My feeling is this may be explained by human behaviour," said Prof Riley.
"It may not even be the cases, but the people around them."
...
Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, told the BBC: "The recent West African outbreak was on an unprecedented scale and many cases, especially those occurring out in the community, appear to have arisen from a surprisingly small number of infected individuals.
"Knowing who is most likely to transmit the virus can help in focusing interventions designed to prevent virus spread, and the current study suggests that infected children and the elderly were more likely to pass their virus on.
"Whether this was this due to biological or social factors is unclear, and these will be important questions to address if we are to understand how Ebola virus super-spread occurs."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Funny, wasn’t Obama trying to bring those here?
Are “superspreaders” worse than “manspreaders”? I can’t keep up.
What ever happened to the Ebola and Zika epidemics the scientists said were coming here!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.