Identifying human encounters that shape the transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae and other acute respiratory infections

•Individual risk of pneumococcal carriage and of acute respiratory symptoms increases with the number of close contacts.•More frequent contact with young children increases the risk of pneumococcal carriage in adults.•The risk of nasopharyngeal carriage did not increase with the frequency of short c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemics 2018-12, Vol.25, p.72-79
Main Authors: le Polain de Waroux, Olivier, Flasche, Stefan, Kucharski, Adam J, Langendorf, Celine, Ndazima, Donny, Mwanga-Amumpaire, Juliet, Grais, Rebecca F, Cohuet, Sandra, Edmunds, W John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Carrier State - transmission
Child
Child, Preschool
Contact
Female
Humans
Infection
Male
Pneumococcal Infections - prevention & control
Pneumococcal Infections - transmission
Pneumococcus
Respiratory
Respiratory Tract Infections - prevention & control
Respiratory Tract Infections - transmission
Risk factor
Sexual Behavior
Sexual Partners
Social Behavior
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Surveys and Questionnaires
Transmission
Uganda
Young Adult
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Summary:•Individual risk of pneumococcal carriage and of acute respiratory symptoms increases with the number of close contacts.•More frequent contact with young children increases the risk of pneumococcal carriage in adults.•The risk of nasopharyngeal carriage did not increase with the frequency of short casual contacts, irrespective of age. Although patterns of social contacts are believed to be an important determinant of infectious disease transmission, it remains unclear how the frequency and nature of human interactions shape an individual’s risk of infection. We analysed data on daily social encounters individually matched to data on S. pneumoniae carriage and acute respiratory symptoms (ARS), from 566 individuals who took part in a survey in South-West Uganda. We found that the frequency of physical (i.e. skin-to-skin), long (≥1 h) and household contacts – which capture some measure of close (i.e. relatively intimate) contact – was higher among pneumococcal carriers than non-carriers, and among people with ARS compared to those without, irrespective of their age. With each additional physical encounter the age-adjusted risk of carriage and ARS increased by 6% (95%CI 2–9%) and 7% (2–13%) respectively. In contrast, the number of casual contacts (
ISSN:1755-4365
1878-0067
DOI:10.1016/j.epidem.2018.05.008