Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
How Contagious Is Zika?
April 15, 20168:55 AM ET
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Last week scientists estimated how contagious Zika is in Colombia. Specifically, they calculated what's called the reproduction number, or "Ro" (R nought). It's a mathematical term that tells you the number of people who catch the disease from one sick person, on average, in an outbreak.
In Colombia, Zika's Ro was between three and six, scientists at the Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira reported in the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Each person who caught Zika spread it to about four others during the outbreak.
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"An Ro of four tells you you need to move fast, early on in an outbreak, to break transmission," says Dr. Scott Lillibridge, an epidemiologist at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health.
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"Obviously, we're going to do mosquito control here in the U.S. So we're going interrupt Zika transmission," Lillibridge added.
And then Zika's Ro will be much lower in the U.S. than Colombia. How much lower?
...
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/15/473976155/how-contagious-is-zika
April 15, 20168:55 AM ET
...
Last week scientists estimated how contagious Zika is in Colombia. Specifically, they calculated what's called the reproduction number, or "Ro" (R nought). It's a mathematical term that tells you the number of people who catch the disease from one sick person, on average, in an outbreak.
In Colombia, Zika's Ro was between three and six, scientists at the Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira reported in the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Each person who caught Zika spread it to about four others during the outbreak.
...
"An Ro of four tells you you need to move fast, early on in an outbreak, to break transmission," says Dr. Scott Lillibridge, an epidemiologist at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health.
...
"Obviously, we're going to do mosquito control here in the U.S. So we're going interrupt Zika transmission," Lillibridge added.
And then Zika's Ro will be much lower in the U.S. than Colombia. How much lower?
...
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/15/473976155/how-contagious-is-zika