Behavioural response in educated young adults towards influenza A(H1N1)pdm09
Journal
Epidemiology and Infection
Journal Volume
760
Pages
1846-1857
Date Issued
2014
Author(s)
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to determine how contact behaviour change influences the indoor transmission of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 among school children. We incorporated transmission rate matrices constructed from questionnaire responses into an epidemiological model to simulate contact behaviour change during an influenza epidemic. We constructed a dose-response model describing the relationships between contact rate, viral load, and respiratory symptom scores using published experimental human infection data for A(H1N1)pdm09. Findings showed that that mean numbers of contacts were 5·66 ± 6·23 and 1·96 ± 2·76 d-1 in the 13-19 and 40-59 years age groups, respectively. We found that the basic reproduction number (R 0) was <1 during weekends in pandemic periods, implying that school closures or class suspensions are probably an effective social distancing policy to control pandemic influenza transmission. We conclude that human contact behaviour change is a potentially influential factor on influenza infection rates. For substantiation of this effect, we recommend a future study with more comprehensive control measures. ? 2014 Cambridge University Press.
Subjects
A(H1N1)pdm09
contact behaviour
contact matrix
indoor transmission
influenza
modelling
SDGs
Other Subjects
adolescent; area under the curve; Article; attitude to health; awareness; behavior change; child; controlled study; coughing; disease transmission; epidemic; female; fever; headache; health status; human; infection control; influenza A (H1N1); male; mathematical model; pandemic influenza; questionnaire; respiratory tract disease; rhinorrhea; school child; scoring system; seasonal influenza; sneezing; social behavior; symptomatology; virus load; virus shedding; virus titration; basic reproduction number; Influenza virus A H1N1; Influenza, Human; pandemic; physiology; Taiwan; transmission; virology; Adolescent; Basic Reproduction Number; Female; Humans; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; Influenza, Human; Male; Pandemics; Questionnaires; Taiwan
Type
journal article