Source avec lien : Annals of Epidemiology, 82. 10.1016/j.annepidem.2023.03.009
La plupart des cas index infectés par un nouveau coronavirus ne transmettent la maladie qu’à un ou deux autres individus, mais certains individus « super-répandent », c’est-à-dire qu’ils infectent de nombreux cas secondaires. La compréhension des facteurs communs que peuvent partager les personnes qui se propagent à grande échelle pourrait permettre d’élaborer des modèles d’épidémies et d’orienter la recherche des contacts pendant les épidémies.
OBJECTIVE Most index cases with novel coronavirus infections transmit disease to just one or two other individuals, but some individuals ‘super-spread’ – they infect many secondary cases. Understanding common factors that super-spreaders may share could inform outbreak models, and be used to guide contact tracing during outbreaks. METHODS We conducted a comprehensive search in MEDLINE, Scopus and preprint servers to identify studies about people documented as transmitting pathogens that cause SARS, MERS or COVID-19 to at least nine other people. We extracted data from and applied quality assessment to eligible published scientific studies about super-spreaders to describe them by age, sex, location, occupation, activities, symptom severity, any underlying conditions and disease outcome. We included scientific studies published by mid June 2021. RESULTS The completeness of data reporting was often limited, which meant we could not identify traits such as patient age, sex or occupation. Where demographic information was available, the most typical super-spreader was a male age 40+. Most SARS or MERS super-spreaders were very symptomatic, the super-spreading occurred in hospital settings and frequently the individual died. In contrast, COVID-19 super-spreaders often had very mild disease and most COVID-19 super-spreading happened in community settings. CONCLUSION SARS and MERS super-spreaders were often symptomatic, middle- or older-age adults who had a high mortality rate. In contrast, COVID-19 super-spreaders tended to have mild disease and were documented to be any adult age. More outbreak reports should be published with anonymised but useful demographic information to improve understanding of super-spreading, super-spreaders, and the settings that super-spreading happens in.