Yale researchers reveal Ebola virus spreads in social clusters
2014-12-16
(Press-News.org) New Haven, Conn. -- An analysis of the ongoing Ebola outbreak reveals that transmission of the virus occurs in social clusters, a finding that has ramifications for case reporting and the public health.
Prior studies of Ebola transmission were based on models that assumed the spread of infection occurred between random pairs of individuals. However, because transmission of the virus happens most often in hospitals, households, and funeral settings, Yale researchers, and an international team of co-authors, investigated the possibility of clustered transmission, or spread between individuals in small social groups.
For their analysis, the researchers reviewed both genomic and epidemiological data from the current outbreak in Sierra Leone. They found evidence of significant social clustering. "Clustered transmission means that when you have an individual who has the disease and they transmit it to another individual, the next transmission is likely to be to someone who the first individual knew," said Jeffrey Townsend, principal investigator and associate professor of biostatistics and ecology & evolutionary biology at Yale. "It's all happening within little small social networks."
Researchers were also able to estimate that for every Ebola case reported, fewer than one went unreported. This estimate, that up to 70% of cases were not reported, is significantly lower than previous estimates. "For Sierra Leone, underreporting is lower than some more speculative estimates that ran as high as 250%," Townsend noted.
These findings underscore the importance of rapid contact tracing and quarantine of symptomatic individuals, which can be highly effective among these clustered groups. The analysis also points to the need for more public health resources, such as hospital beds, to make sure every infected individual in West Africa is quickly isolated and receives professional care.
Though more research is needed, the analysis has strong implications regarding the testing of newly developed Ebola vaccines, note the researchers. Individuals clustered in a household or hospital with Ebola patients are at greater risk for multiple exposures and could benefit most from vaccination.
INFORMATION:
First authors are Samuel V. Scarpino and Atila Iamarino. Additional authors include Chad Wells, Dan Yamin, Martial Ndeffo-Mbah, Natasha S. Wenzel, Spencer J. Fox, Tolbert Nyenswah, Frederick L. Altice, Alison P. Galvani, and Lauren Ancel Meyers.
The analysis was published early online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant 2 U01 GM087719 and 5 U01 GM105627.
Contact: Ziba Kashef 203-436-9317 or ziba.kashef@yale.edu
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2014-12-16
(SALT LAKE CITY)--In addition to incurring serious dental problems, memory loss and other physical and mental issues, methamphetamine users are three times more at risk for getting Parkinson's disease than non-illicit drug users, new research from the University of Utah and Intermountain Healthcare shows.
The researchers also observed that women who use methamphetamine may be nearly five times more likely to get Parkinson's disease compared to women who don't use drugs. Although findings suggest the risk in women may be higher than that in men, additional studies are ...
2014-12-16
ITHACA, N.Y. - Researchers have understood very little about how blood and lymphatic vessels form in the mammalian gut - until now.
A new Cornell University study reports for the first time how arteries form to supply the looping embryonic gut with blood, and how these arteries guide development of the gut's lymphatic system.
The study, published online Dec. 4 as the cover story of the journal Developmental Cell, provides a new avenue to explore treatments to prevent cancer metastasis and gut-specific lymphatic diseases. Lymphatic vessels are the main channels for spreading ...
2014-12-16
WASHINGTON D.C., December 16, 2014 -- Although currently available diagnostic screening systems for breast cancer like X-ray computed tomography (CT) and mammography are effective at detecting early signs of tumors, they are far from perfect, subjecting patients to ionizing radiation and sometimes inflicting discomfort on women who are undergoing screening because of the compression of the breast that is required to produce diagnostically useful images.
A better, cheaper, and safer way to look for the telltale signs of breast cancer may be with microwaves, said Neil ...
2014-12-16
WASHINGTON D.C., December 16, 2014 -- What do you get when you wrap a thin sheet of the "wonder material" graphene around a novel multifunctional sulfur electrode that combines an energy storage unit and electron/ion transfer networks? An extremely promising electrode structure design for rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries.
Lithium-sulfur batteries are of great commercial interest because they boast theoretical specific energy densities considerably greater than those of their already-well-established cousin, lithium ion batteries.
In the journal APL Materials, from ...
2014-12-16
Analysts at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used statistical analyses and detailed case studies to better understand why solar market policies in certain states are more successful. Their findings indicate that while no standard formula for solar implementation exists, a combination of foundational policies and localized strategies can increase solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in any state.
In the report, "The Effect of State Policy Suites on the Development of Solar MarketsPDF," NREL researchers examined a variety of policy- ...
2014-12-16
People who occupy the extreme ends of the political spectrum, whether liberal or conservative, may be less influenced by outside information on a simple estimation task than political moderates, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research, conducted by psychological scientists Mark J. Brandt and Anthony Evans of Tilburg University and Jarret T. Crawford of The College of New Jersey, suggests that because political extremists hold their own beliefs to be superior to the beliefs of others, ...
2014-12-16
New Rochelle, NY, December 16, 2014-Consuming caffeinated or sugary drinks can affect the body's metabolism, causing changes in heart and respiratory rate and weight gain. The results of a new study exploring whether individuals respond differently to caffeinated drinks that do or do not contain sugar and to sugar alone are published in Journal of Caffeine Research: The International Multidisciplinary Journal of Caffeine Science, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Caffeine Research website ...
2014-12-16
Eliminating health disparities between races is a goal of many groups and organizations, but a team of sociologists suggests that finding the reasons for the differences in the timing of black and white deaths may be trickier than once thought.
Life expectancies for black people are shorter and more uncertain, on average, than to those of whites, according to Glenn Firebaugh, Roy C. Buck Professor of American Institutions and professor of sociology and demography, Penn State. A higher lifespan variability -- the variability in the ages at which people die -- among blacks ...
2014-12-16
Unauthorized immigrants who previously have been removed from the United States are more than 2.5 times more likely to be rearrested after leaving jail, and are likely to be rearrested much more frequently than those who have never been removed, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
The findings generally support strategies adopted by federal immigration authorities and some law enforcement agencies to focus their immigration enforcement efforts on immigrants who previously have been removed, who are viewed as posing a bigger criminal threat.
Researchers studied ...
2014-12-16
Unlike in mathematics, it is rare to have exact solutions to physics problems.
"When they do present themselves, they are an opportunity to test the approximation schemes (algorithms) that are used to make progress in modern physics," said Michael Strickland, Ph.D., associate professor of physics at Kent State University.
Strickland and four of his collaborators recently published an exact solution in the journal Physical Review Letters that applies to a wide array of physics contexts and will help researchers to better model galactic structure, supernova explosions ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Yale researchers reveal Ebola virus spreads in social clusters
