Changing Contact Patterns Over Disease Progression: Nipah Virus as a Case Study

Kyu Han Lee; Birgit Nikolay; Hossain M S Sazzad; M Jahangir Hossain; A K M Dawlat Khan; Mahmudur Rahman; Syed Moinuddin Satter; Stuart T Nichol; John D Klena; Juliet R C Pulliam; A Marm Kilpatrick; Sharmin Sultana; Sayma Afroj; Peter Daszak; Stephen Luby; Simon Cauchemez; Henrik Salje; Emily S Gurley

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiaa091

Changing Contact Patterns Over Disease Progression: Nipah Virus as a Case Study

J Infect Dis. 2020 Jul 6;222(3):438-442. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa091.

Authors

Kyu Han Lee¹, Birgit Nikolay², Hossain M S Sazzad^{3

4}, M Jahangir Hossain^{3

5}, A K M Dawlat Khan³, Mahmudur Rahman^{3

6}, Syed Moinuddin Satter³, Stuart T Nichol⁷, John D Klena⁷, Juliet R C Pulliam⁸, A Marm Kilpatrick⁹, Sharmin Sultana⁶, Sayma Afroj³, Peter Daszak¹⁰, Stephen Luby¹¹, Simon Cauchemez², Henrik Salje², Emily S Gurley¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
² Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases Unit Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
³ Infectious Disease Division, icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
⁵ Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia.
⁶ Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁷ Viral Special Pathogens Branch, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁸ Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
⁹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
¹⁰ EcoHealth Alliance, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.

Abstract

Contact patterns play a key role in disease transmission, and variation in contacts during the course of illness can influence transmission, particularly when accompanied by changes in host infectiousness. We used surveys among 1642 contacts of 94 Nipah virus case patients in Bangladesh to determine how contact patterns (physical and with bodily fluids) changed as disease progressed in severity. The number of contacts increased with severity and, for case patients who died, peaked on the day of death. Given transmission has only been observed among fatal cases of Nipah virus infection, our findings suggest that changes in contact patterns during illness contribute to risk of infection.

Keywords: Nipah virus; infectious disease transmission; social behavior.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Bangladesh / epidemiology
Body Fluids / virology*
Contact Tracing / statistics & numerical data*
Disease Progression
Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control
Female
Henipavirus Infections / epidemiology
Henipavirus Infections / prevention & control
Henipavirus Infections / transmission*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Nipah Virus*
Risk Factors
Social Behavior*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

R01 TW005869/TW/FIC NIH HHS/United States