Eurosurveillance: The role of superspreading in Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) transmission

[tetano]

Eurosurveillance, Volume 20, Issue 25, 25 June 2015
Rapid communications
The role of superspreading in Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) transmission
A J Kucharski[SUP]1[/SUP], C L Althaus ()[SUP]2[/SUP]

• Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
• Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern, Berne, Switzerland

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Citation style for this article: Kucharski AJ, Althaus CL. The role of superspreading in Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) transmission. Euro Surveill. 2015;20(25)ii=21167. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=21167
Date of submission: 15 June 2015

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[SIZE=+0]As at 15 June 2015, a large transmission cluster of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was ongoing in South Korea. To examine the potential for such events, we estimated the level of heterogeneity in MERS-CoV transmission by analysing data on cluster size distributions. We found substantial potential for superspreading; even though it is likely that R[SUB]0[/SUB] < 1 overall, our analysis indicates that cluster sizes of over 150 cases are not unexpected for MERS-CoV infection. [/SIZE]

full article

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=21167