Study ranks social contacts by job and social group in bid to fight infectious diseases

In the light of Novel Corona Virus, concerns over H7N9 Influenza in S.E. Asia, and more familiar infections such as measles and seasonal influenza, it is as important as ever to be able to predict and understand how infections transmit through the UK population. Researchers at the University of Warwick and University of Liverpool have mapped the daily contact networks of thousands of individuals to shed light on which groups may be at highest risk of contracting and spreading respiratory diseases. These scientists used an anonymous web and postal survey of 5,027 UK residents to collect information on the types of social contact likely to lead to the transmission of respiratory infections. The study, Social encounter networks: characterising Great Britain, was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B The survey is believed to be the largest national study of its kind to date and allowed the scientists, for the first time,...