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Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease, has moved rapidly around the globe, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. The basic reproduction number, which has been widely used—appropriately an...

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Autores principales: Althouse, Benjamin M., Wenger, Edward A., Miller, Joel C., Scarpino, Samuel V., Allard, Antoine, Hébert-Dufresne, Laurent, Hu, Hao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7685463/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33180773
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000897
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author Althouse, Benjamin M.
Wenger, Edward A.
Miller, Joel C.
Scarpino, Samuel V.
Allard, Antoine
Hébert-Dufresne, Laurent
Hu, Hao
author_facet Althouse, Benjamin M.
Wenger, Edward A.
Miller, Joel C.
Scarpino, Samuel V.
Allard, Antoine
Hébert-Dufresne, Laurent
Hu, Hao
author_sort Althouse, Benjamin M.
collection PubMed
description Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease, has moved rapidly around the globe, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. The basic reproduction number, which has been widely used—appropriately and less appropriately—to characterize the transmissibility of the virus, hides the fact that transmission is stochastic, often dominated by a small number of individuals, and heavily influenced by superspreading events (SSEs). The distinct transmission features of SARS-CoV-2, e.g., high stochasticity under low prevalence (as compared to other pathogens, such as influenza), and the central role played by SSEs on transmission dynamics cannot be overlooked. Many explosive SSEs have occurred in indoor settings, stoking the pandemic and shaping its spread, such as long-term care facilities, prisons, meat-packing plants, produce processing facilities, fish factories, cruise ships, family gatherings, parties, and nightclubs. These SSEs demonstrate the urgent need to understand routes of transmission, while posing an opportunity to effectively contain outbreaks with targeted interventions to eliminate SSEs. Here, we describe the different types of SSEs, how they influence transmission, empirical evidence for their role in the COVID-19 pandemic, and give recommendations for control of SARS-CoV-2.
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spelling pubmed-76854632020-12-02 Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control Althouse, Benjamin M. Wenger, Edward A. Miller, Joel C. Scarpino, Samuel V. Allard, Antoine Hébert-Dufresne, Laurent Hu, Hao PLoS Biol Essay Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease, has moved rapidly around the globe, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. The basic reproduction number, which has been widely used—appropriately and less appropriately—to characterize the transmissibility of the virus, hides the fact that transmission is stochastic, often dominated by a small number of individuals, and heavily influenced by superspreading events (SSEs). The distinct transmission features of SARS-CoV-2, e.g., high stochasticity under low prevalence (as compared to other pathogens, such as influenza), and the central role played by SSEs on transmission dynamics cannot be overlooked. Many explosive SSEs have occurred in indoor settings, stoking the pandemic and shaping its spread, such as long-term care facilities, prisons, meat-packing plants, produce processing facilities, fish factories, cruise ships, family gatherings, parties, and nightclubs. These SSEs demonstrate the urgent need to understand routes of transmission, while posing an opportunity to effectively contain outbreaks with targeted interventions to eliminate SSEs. Here, we describe the different types of SSEs, how they influence transmission, empirical evidence for their role in the COVID-19 pandemic, and give recommendations for control of SARS-CoV-2. Public Library of Science 2020-11-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7685463/ /pubmed/33180773 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000897 Text en © 2020 Althouse et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Essay
Althouse, Benjamin M.
Wenger, Edward A.
Miller, Joel C.
Scarpino, Samuel V.
Allard, Antoine
Hébert-Dufresne, Laurent
Hu, Hao
Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control
title Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control
title_full Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control
title_fullStr Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control
title_full_unstemmed Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control
title_short Superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: Opportunities for interventions and control
title_sort superspreading events in the transmission dynamics of sars-cov-2: opportunities for interventions and control
topic Essay
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7685463/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33180773
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000897
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