High risk
The researchers then gathered information on the size of these groups, how many people a person was connected to within it, the amount of time he or she spent in the group, and the closeness of the contact a person had with individuals in that group.They then evaluated the flu transmission potential of various contacts based on the degree of closeness and how much time a person spent in those contact activities.Households, classes, groups of friends and sports teams all represented networks with "high potential for the transmission of influenza," the researchers found.The older a child was, the more important outside connections became, with 75% of those in high school having social contacts outside the home conducive for transmitting influenza.If it turns out that young people are a key route of influenza transmission within a community, closing schools and keeping children at home could help to shut down an epidemic, the researchers say.However, they add, similar studies in other groups within the community must be done to understand the other ways that the disease might spread."There are a whole bunch of things that you can learn from doing this kind of thing," Glass noted.Networks can not only be used to study the spread of other types of disease, he added, but could also be used to identify individuals who are at-risk because they are less connected than others.
As in the days of Noah....