Adegboye Oyelola A, Elfaki Faiz
Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar.
Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol. 2018 May 7;2018:6725284. doi: 10.1155/2018/6725284. eCollection 2018.
Contact history is crucial during an infectious disease outbreak and vital when seeking to understand and predict the spread of infectious diseases in human populations. The transmission connectivity networks of people infected with highly contagious Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia were assessed to identify super-spreading events among the infected patients between 2012 and 2016. Of the 1379 MERS cases recorded during the study period, 321 (23.3%) cases were linked to hospital infection, out of which 203 (14.7%) cases occurred among healthcare workers. There were 1113 isolated cases while the number of recorded contacts per MERS patient is between 1 (=210) and 17 (=1), with a mean of 0.27 (SD = 0.76). Five super-important nodes were identified based on their high number of connected contacts worthy of prioritization (at least degree of 5). The number of secondary cases in each SSE varies (range, 5-17). The eigenvector centrality was significantly ( < 0.05) associated with place of exposure, with hospitals having on average significantly higher eigenvector centrality than other places of exposure. Results suggested that being a healthcare worker has a higher eigenvector centrality score on average than being nonhealthcare workers. Pathogenic droplets are easily transmitted within a confined area of hospitals; therefore, control measures should be put in place to curtail the number of hospital visitors and movements of nonessential staff within the healthcare facility with MERS cases.
在传染病爆发期间，接触史至关重要，对于了解和预测传染病在人群中的传播也至关重要。对沙特阿拉伯感染高传染性中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）的人群的传播连接网络进行了评估，以确定2012年至2016年期间感染患者中的超级传播事件。在研究期间记录的1379例中东呼吸综合征病例中，321例（23.3%）与医院感染有关，其中203例（14.7%）发生在医护人员中。有1113例孤立病例，而每例中东呼吸综合征患者的记录接触人数在1（=210）至17（=1）之间，平均为0.27（标准差=0.76）。根据其大量的连接接触数确定了五个超级重要节点，值得优先考虑（至少度数为5）。每个超级传播事件中的二代病例数各不相同（范围为5-17）。特征向量中心性与暴露地点显著相关（<0.05），医院的平均特征向量中心性显著高于其他暴露地点。结果表明，医护人员的平均特征向量中心性得分高于非医护人员。致病性飞沫在医院的有限区域内很容易传播；因此，应采取控制措施，减少医院访客数量以及医疗机构内非必要工作人员在有中东呼吸综合征病例的情况下的活动。
