Respondent-driven detection, a method of detection derived from snowball sampling, is a chain recruitment method that allows for systematic sampling of contact persons of participants. Ī social network approach can provide relevant epidemiological data on numbers of contacts and the strength and dynamics of contacts between pairs of individuals in a population.
Close contact persons such as family, friends and colleagues are thereby assumed to capture the majority of contacts for potential transmission events. Despite controversies on the different modes of transmission of respiratory infectious diseases, face-to-face conversations and physical contact are often used as proxies for potential infectious contacts. For example, the POLYMOD study, a large randomized study in eight European countries, used contact diaries to analyse mixing patterns of independent respondents. Previous empirical studies of contact patterns used different methods of data collection, including direct observation, contact diaries and electronic proximity sensors, to quantify social mixing behaviour for a variety of populations. Ĭontact networks are complex and highly dynamic (i.e., not constant over time). For example, the number of contacts an infectious individual has with susceptible persons determines among others the basic reproduction number R 0 (i.e., the number of secondary cases one case generates in a susceptible population). To accurately understand and explain epidemic dynamics, information is required on the underlying contact network of a host population, i.e., a network that contains all contact persons potentially at risk for infection. Knowledge on contact patterns is therefore important for the design of optimal outbreak control strategies. For infectious diseases, such as influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome and measles, proximity and social contact between individuals are major factors for person-to-person transmission.
0 kommentar(er)
