Network theory and SARS: predicting outbreak diversity

Network theory and SARS: predicting outbreak diversity.

Many infectious diseases spread through populations via the networks formed by physical contacts among individuals. The patterns of these contacts tend to be highly heterogeneous. Traditional "compartmental" modeling in epidemiology, however, assumes that population groups are fully mixed, that is, every individual has an equal chance of spreading the disease to every other. Applications of com...

SARS outbreak and lessons learned.

SARS Outbreak, Taiwan, 2003

We studied the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Taiwan, using the daily case-reporting data from May 5 to June 4 to learn how it had spread so rapidly. Our results indicate that most SARS-infected persons had symptoms and were admitted before their infections were reclassified as probable cases. This finding could indicate efficient admission, slow reclassification process, ...

SARS Outbreak in Taiwan

4. Buehler JW, Berkelman RL, Hartley DM, Peters CJ. Syndromic surveillance and bioterrorism-related epidemics. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:1197–204. 5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the absence of SARS-CoV transmission worldwide: guidance for surveillance, clinical and laboratory evaluation, and reporting, version 2; January 21, 2004. [cited 2003 Jun 2]. Available from: http://www...

Tuberculosis in a SARS outbreak.

Preoccupied with the diagnosis of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in a SARS outbreak, doctors tend to overlook other endemic diseases, such as tuberculosis. Incorrectly labeling a patient as SARS may result in serious consequences. Single isolation being not always possible, the patient may have to be isolated with a group of SARS patients. The following article reports how a young gir...