Journal Article

Comparison of Contact Patterns Relevant for Transmission of Respiratory Pathogens in Thailand and the Netherlands Using Respondent-Driven Sampling

Bengtsson, Linus, van Steenbergen, Jim E., Kretzschmar, Mirjam E. E., van der Heijden, Peter G. M., Chanyasanha, Charnchudhi, Buskens, Vincent, Stein, Mart L., Thorson, Anna E., Lu, Xin, Tipayamongkholgul, Mathuros

2014

Overview

Understanding infection dynamics of respiratory diseases requires the identification and quantification of behavioural, social and environmental factors that permit the transmission of these infections between humans. Little empirical information is available about contact patterns within real-world social networks, let alone on differences in these contact networks between populations that differ considerably on a socio-cultural level. Here we compared contact network data that were collected in The Netherlands and Thailand using a similar online respondent-driven method. By asking participants to recruit contact persons we studied network links relevant for the transmission of respiratory infections. We studied correlations between recruiter and recruited contacts to investigate mixing patterns in the observed social network components. In both countries, mixing patterns were assortative by demographic variables and random by total numbers of contacts. However, in Thailand participants reported overall more contacts which resulted in higher effective contact rates. Our findings provide new insights on numbers of contacts and mixing patterns in two different populations. These data could be used to improve parameterisation of mathematical models used to design control strategies. Although the spread of infections through populations depends on more factors, found similarities suggest that spread may be similar in The Netherlands and Thailand.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Biology and Life Sciences / Comparative analysis / Computer and Information Sciences / Contact Tracing / Correlation analysis / Demographic variables / Demographics / Disease control / Disease transmission / Environmental factors / Health sciences / Health surveillance / Humans / Infection / Infections / Infectious diseases / Influenza / Mathematical models / Medicine and Health Sciences / Methods / Netherlands - epidemiology / Pandemics / Population / Populations / Primary care / Public health / Random variables / Research and Analysis Methods / Respiration / Respiratory diseases / Respiratory distress syndrome / Respiratory Tract Infections - epidemiology / Respiratory Tract Infections - microbiology / Respiratory Tract Infections - transmission / Social networks / Social organization / Social Sciences / Studies / Thailand - epidemiology