Two Critical Issues in Quantitative Modeling of Communicable Diseases: Inference of Unobservables and Dependent Happening
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Estimating the Serial Interval of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID
medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.21.20026559; this version posted February 25, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . 1 Estimating the serial interval of the novel coronavirus disease 2 (COVID-19): A statistical analysis using the public data in Hong Kong 3 from January 16 to February 15, 2020 4 Shi Zhao1,2,*, Daozhou Gao3, Zian Zhuang4, Marc KC Chong1,2, Yongli Cai5, Jinjun Ran6, Peihua Cao7, Kai 5 Wang8, Yijun Lou4, Weiming Wang5,*, Lin Yang9, Daihai He4,*, and Maggie H Wang1,2 6 7 1 JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China 8 2 Shenzhen Research Institute of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China 9 3 Department of Mathematics, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China 10 4 Department of Applied Mathematics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China 11 5 School of Mathematics and Statistics, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China 12 6 School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China 13 7 Clinical Research Centre, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China 14 8 Department of Medical Engineering and Technology, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, 830011, China 15 9 School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China 16 * Correspondence -
The Uncertainties Underlying Herd Immunity Against COVID-19
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 8 July 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202007.0159.v1 Communication The uncertainties underlying herd immunity against COVID-19 Farid Rahimi1*and Amin Talebi Bezmin Abadi2* 1 Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; [email protected] 2 Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran; Amin [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-2-6125-2851 (F.R.); [email protected]; Tel.: +98-8288-4883 (A.T.B.A.) Abstract: Herd immunity happens when a relatively large proportion of a population becomes infected by an agent, subsequently recovers, and attains immunity against the same agent. That proportion thus indirectly protects the naïve population by preventing the spread of the infection. Herd immunity has been suggested to interrupt and control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, relying on establishing herd immunity can be catastrophic considering the virulence and lethality of SARS-CoV-2. Meanwhile our understanding of the pathogenesis, case-fatality rate, transmission routes, and antiviral therapy for COVID-19 remains limited now. Interrupting or slowing the COVID-19 transmission seems more opportune than vaccination, antiviral therapy, or herd immunity, all of which will take some time to yield. Thus, social distancing, face-masking, and hygiene are the most appropriate immediate countermeasures. Because the social fabrics, economic implications, and local demands of various nations are unique, early relaxation of restrictions may seem hasty particularly when fatality rates are high, or when the healthcare systems could be inadequate or become inundated. -
The Serial Interval of COVID-19 from Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases
medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.19.20025452; this version posted March 13, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . Title: The serial interval of COVID-19 from publicly reported confirmed cases Running Head: The serial interval of COVID-19 1,+ 2+ 3,4+ 5, 6 Authors: Zhanwei Du , Xiaoke Xu , Ye Wu , Lin Wang , Benjamin J. Cowling , and Lauren Ancel Meyers1,7* Affiliations: 1. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, The United States of America 2. Dalian Minzu University, Dalian 116600, China 3. Computational Communication Research Center, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, 519087, China 4. School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China 5. Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr Roux, Paris 75015, France 6. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China 7. Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, The United States of America Corresponding author: Lauren Ancel Meyers Corresponding author email: [email protected] + These first authors contributed equally to this article Short Abstract (50 words) We estimate the distribution of serial intervals for 468 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in 93 Chinese cities by February 8, 2020. The mean and standard deviation are 3.96 NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice. -
Herd Immunity Is an Important—And Often Misunderstood—Public Health Phenomenon
CORE CONCEPTS Herd immunity is an important—and often misunderstood—public health phenomenon CORE CONCEPTS Amy McDermott, Science Writer In December, Anthony Fauci predicted that 70 to 85% Since the earliest months of the COVID-19 pan- of the United States population may need to be demic, “herd immunity” has become shorthand for vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” against SARS- the day when enough people are immune to the virus CoV-2 (1). Yet he was very careful to qualify his com- that social distancing can end and healthcare systems ments. “We need to have some humility here,” he said are no longer overwhelmed. People have been clam- ’ in a New York Times interview, “We really don’t know oring to know when we ll get there. But even as Fauci — what the real number is.” (2) Fauci, director of the and other officials continue to try to calculate and communicate—when it might happen, they have to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, contend with both public misunderstanding of the admitted that the number could be as high as 90%. term and scientific disagreement over what it means. But even a year into the pandemic, there were too The public health concept of herd immunity has a many uncertainties to offer a definite threshold. And more nuanced definition than its popular usage, which with vaccine hesitancy widespread, he worried that is one reason why predicting when we’ll achieve it re- setting the bar at such a high number would cause mains difficult. In theory, estimating the threshold to the public to despair of ever reaching it. -
Using Proper Mean Generation Intervals in Modeling of COVID-19
ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 05 July 2021 doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.691262 Using Proper Mean Generation Intervals in Modeling of COVID-19 Xiujuan Tang 1, Salihu S. Musa 2,3, Shi Zhao 4,5, Shujiang Mei 1 and Daihai He 2* 1 Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, China, 2 Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China, 3 Department of Mathematics, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Nigeria, 4 The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, 5 Shenzhen Research Institute of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China In susceptible–exposed–infectious–recovered (SEIR) epidemic models, with the exponentially distributed duration of exposed/infectious statuses, the mean generation interval (GI, time lag between infections of a primary case and its secondary case) equals the mean latent period (LP) plus the mean infectious period (IP). It was widely reported that the GI for COVID-19 is as short as 5 days. However, many works in top journals used longer LP or IP with the sum (i.e., GI), e.g., >7 days. This discrepancy will lead to overestimated basic reproductive number and exaggerated expectation of Edited by: infection attack rate (AR) and control efficacy. We argue that it is important to use Reza Lashgari, suitable epidemiological parameter values for proper estimation/prediction. Furthermore, Institute for Research in Fundamental we propose an epidemic model to assess the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 Sciences, Iran for Belgium, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). -
Serial Interval of COVID-19 Among Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases
RESEARCH LETTERS of an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases and the extent of interventions required to control (COVID-19)—China, 2020. China CDC Weekly 2020 [cited an epidemic (3). 2020 Feb 29]. http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/ e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51 To obtain reliable estimates of the serial interval, we obtained data on 468 COVID-19 transmission events Address for correspondence: Nick Wilson, Department of reported in mainland China outside of Hubei Province Public Health, University of Otago Wellington, Mein St, during January 21–February 8, 2020. Each report con- Newtown, Wellington 6005, New Zealand; email: sists of a probable date of symptom onset for both the [email protected] infector and infectee, as well as the probable locations of infection for both case-patients. The data include only confirmed cases compiled from online reports from 18 provincial centers for disease control and prevention (https://github.com/MeyersLabUTexas/COVID-19). Fifty-nine of the 468 reports indicate that the in- fectee had symptoms earlier than the infector. Thus, presymptomatic transmission might be occurring. Given these negative-valued serial intervals, COV- ID-19 serial intervals seem to resemble a normal distri- bution more than the commonly assumed gamma or Serial Interval of COVID-19 Weibull distributions (4,5), which are limited to posi- among Publicly Reported tive values (Appendix, https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/EID/ Confirmed Cases article/26/7/20-0357-App1.pdf). We estimate a mean serial interval for COVID-19 of 3.96 (95% CI 3.53–4.39) days, with an SD of 4.75 (95% CI 4.46–5.07) days (Fig- Zhanwei Du,1 Xiaoke Xu,1 Ye Wu,1 Lin Wang, ure), which is considerably lower than reported mean Benjamin J. -
Impact of Microbiota: a Paradigm for Evolving Herd Immunity Against Viral Diseases
viruses Review Impact of Microbiota: A Paradigm for Evolving Herd Immunity against Viral Diseases Asha Shelly , Priya Gupta , Rahul Ahuja, Sudeepa Srichandan , Jairam Meena and Tanmay Majumdar * National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India; [email protected] (A.S.); [email protected] (P.G.); [email protected] (R.A.); [email protected] (S.S.); [email protected] (J.M.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +91-11-2671-7121 Received: 26 August 2020; Accepted: 28 September 2020; Published: 10 October 2020 Abstract: Herd immunity is the most critical and essential prophylactic intervention that delivers protection against infectious diseases at both the individual and community level. This process of natural vaccination is immensely pertinent to the current context of a pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection around the globe. The conventional idea of herd immunity is based on efficient transmission of pathogens and developing natural immunity within a population. This is entirely encouraging while fighting against any disease in pandemic circumstances. A spatial community is occupied by people having variable resistance capacity against a pathogen. Protection efficacy against once very common diseases like smallpox, poliovirus or measles has been possible only because of either natural vaccination through contagious infections or expanded immunization programs among communities. This has led to achieving herd immunity in some cohorts. The microbiome plays an essential role in developing the body’s immune cells for the emerging competent vaccination process, ensuring herd immunity. Frequency of interaction among microbiota, metabolic nutrients and individual immunity preserve the degree of vaccine effectiveness against several pathogens. -
The Attainment of Herd Immunity with a Reducing Risk of Contact Infection In
The attainment of herd immunity with reduced risk of contact infection in modelling Kian Boon Law ( [email protected] ) Institute for Clinical Research, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1175-1307 Kalaiarasu M Peariasamy Institute for Clinical Research, Malaysia Hishamshah Ibrahim Oce of the Director General, Ministry of Health Malaysia Noor Hisham Abdullah Oce of the Director General, Ministry of Health Malaysia Research Article Keywords: Herd immunity, infectious disease, vaccination, COVID-19 Posted Date: March 11th, 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-289776/v3 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License The attainment of herd immunity with reduced risk of contact infection in modelling Law Kian Boon1, Kalaiarasu M. Peariasamy2, Hishamshah Ibrahim3 & Noor Hisham Abdullah3 1 Digital Health Research and Innovation Unit, Institute for Clinical Research, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia 2 Institute for Clinical Research, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia 3 Office of the Director General, Ministry of Health Malaysia Abstract The risk of contact infection among susceptible individuals in a randomly mixed population can be reduced by the presence of immune individuals and this concept is referred to as herd immunity1–3. The conventional susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model does not feature a reduced risk of susceptible individuals in the transmission dynamics of infectious disease, therefore violates the fundamental of herd immunity4. Here we show that the reduced risk of contact infection among susceptible individuals in the SIR model can be attained by incorporating the proportion of susceptible individuals (model A) or the inverse of proportion of recovered individuals (model B) in the force of infection of the SIR model. -
Serial Interval and Incubation Period of COVID-19
Alene et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2021) 21:257 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-05950-x RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Serial interval and incubation period of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta- analysis Muluneh Alene1, Leltework Yismaw1, Moges Agazhe Assemie1, Daniel Bekele Ketema1, Wodaje Gietaneh1 and Tilahun Yemanu Birhan2* Abstract Background: Understanding the epidemiological parameters that determine the transmission dynamics of COVID- 19 is essential for public health intervention. Globally, a number of studies were conducted to estimate the average serial interval and incubation period of COVID-19. Combining findings of existing studies that estimate the average serial interval and incubation period of COVID-19 significantly improves the quality of evidence. Hence, this study aimed to determine the overall average serial interval and incubation period of COVID-19. Methods: We followed the PRISMA checklist to present this study. A comprehensive search strategy was carried out from international electronic databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library) by two experienced reviewers (MAA and DBK) authors between the 1st of June and the 31st of July 2020. All observational studies either reporting the serial interval or incubation period in persons diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in this study. Heterogeneity across studies was assessed using the I2 and Higgins test. The NOS adapted for cross-sectional studies was used to evaluate the quality of studies. A random effect Meta- analysis was employed to determine the pooled estimate with 95% (CI). Microsoft Excel was used for data extraction and R software was used for analysis. -
Promoting Herd Immunity in Your Community (PI) Characterized by the Body’S Inability to Vaccines for People with Different Kinds of Make Antibodies
Summer 2014 NUMBER 76 THE NATIONAL NEWSLETTER OF THE IMMUNE DEFICIENCY FOUNDATION Promoting Herd Immunity in Your Community (PI) characterized by the body’s inability to vaccines for people with different kinds of make antibodies. People with XLA do not PI and addressed the concerns those with make any protection for themselves when PI had about getting vaccine preventable they are vaccinated. “Many people view illnesses. The article emphasizes educating vaccination as a choice, not a must,” she parents and physicians about the critical said, “I’ve made it my mission to educate need for everyone to be vaccinated in order people that if they choose not to immunize, to maintain herd immunity. The article it could literally be fatal to my children.” states, “Parents who elect not to vaccinate Sonia and Holden were recently featured their children are actually placing themselves in a National Public Radio story for and their children at increased risk of serious advocating for herd immunity, or community infection and even death … The increased immunity. Herd immunity occurs when risk of disease in the pediatric population, in most of a population is immunized against part because of increasing rates of vaccine a contagious disease, such as measles or refusal increases potential exposure of mumps, and, for the most part, everyone in immunodeficient children.” that population is then protected against the Essentially, parents who choose not to disease because an outbreak is less likely. vaccinate their children not only put their However, for many years, some Americans families at risk of serious infection and even The Green family (clockwise from top left): have taken herd immunity for Continued on page 2 Colby, Harrison, Sonia, Davis, Langford and Holden. -
A Systematic Review of COVID-19 Epidemiology Based on Current Evidence
Journal of Clinical Medicine Review A Systematic Review of COVID-19 Epidemiology Based on Current Evidence Minah Park, Alex R. Cook *, Jue Tao Lim , Yinxiaohe Sun and Borame L. Dickens Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National Health Systems, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117549, Singapore; [email protected] (M.P.); [email protected] (J.T.L.); [email protected] (Y.S.); [email protected] (B.L.D.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +65-8569-9949 Received: 18 March 2020; Accepted: 27 March 2020; Published: 31 March 2020 Abstract: As the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread rapidly across the globe, we aimed to identify and summarize the existing evidence on epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and the effectiveness of control measures to inform policymakers and leaders in formulating management guidelines, and to provide directions for future research. We conducted a systematic review of the published literature and preprints on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak following predefined eligibility criteria. Of 317 research articles generated from our initial search on PubMed and preprint archives on 21 February 2020, 41 met our inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Current evidence suggests that it takes about 3-7 days for the epidemic to double in size. Of 21 estimates for the basic reproduction number ranging from 1.9 to 6.5, 13 were between 2.0 and 3.0. The incubation period was estimated to be 4-6 days, whereas the serial interval was estimated to be 4-8 days. Though the true case fatality risk is yet unknown, current model-based estimates ranged from 0.3% to 1.4% for outside China. -
PREVENTION of INFECTIOUS DISEASES Loughlin AM & Strathdee SA
PREVENTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES Loughlin AM & Strathdee SA. Vaccines: past, present and future. In Infectious Disease Epidemiology, 2nd ed, Jones & Bartlett, 2007; p 374. Loughlin AM & Strathdee SA. Vaccines: past, present and future. In Infectious Disease Epidemiology, 2nd ed, Jones & Bartlett, 2007; p 374. Control Measures Applied to the Host: Active Immunization •• vaccinationvaccination is:is: –– thethe processprocess ofof administrationadministration ofof anan antigen.antigen. •• immunizationimmunization is:is: –– thethe developmentdevelopment ofof aa specificspecific immuneimmune response.response. Spring Quarter 2013 -- Principles of Control of Infectious Diseases 4 Lecture 3 Principles of Vaccination (1) • Self vs. nonself • Protection from infectious disease • Response indicated by the presence of antibody • Very specific to a single organism Principles of Vaccination (2) Active immunity: • Protection produced by the person’s own immune system • Usually permanent Passive immunity: • Protection transferred from another human or animal • Temporary protection that wanes with time Principles of Vaccination (3) Antigen • A live or inactivated substance (e.g., protein, polysaccharide) capable of producing an immune response Antibody: • Protein molecules (immunoglobulin) produced by B lymphocytes to help eliminate an antigen Goldsby RA, Kindt TJ, Osborne BA. Vaccines (chap 18). In Kuby Immunology, 4th ed, 2000. W. H. Freeman & Co, New York, NY; pp. 449-465. Goldsby RA, Kindt TJ, Osborne BA. Vaccines (chap 18). In Kuby Immunology,