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. 2004 Feb;10(2):207-9.
doi: 10.3201/eid1002.030426.

Multiple contact dates and SARS incubation periods

Martin I Meltzer  1
Affiliations

Multiple contact dates and SARS incubation periods

Martin I Meltzer. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Feb.

Abstract

Many severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients have multiple possible incubation periods due to multiple contact dates. Multiple contact dates cannot be used in standard statistical analytic techniques, however. I present a simple spreadsheet-based method that uses multiple contact dates to calculate the possible incubation periods of SARS.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Simulation of frequency distribution of incubation period of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Data used for this simulation were obtained from Canada (6), Hong Kong (7), and the United States, for a total sample size of 19. Many of the patients included in the database had multiple possible incubation periods (see Table), resulting in the confidence intervals displayed for each day.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cumulative frequency incubation period of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Data are the mean frequencies of each individual incubation period, as shown in Figure 1. Data used for this simulation were obtained from Canada (6), Hong Kong (7), and the United States, for a sample size 19. Many of the patients included in the database had multiple possible incubation periods (see Table).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Estimating SARS incubation period.
    Wong TW, Tam W. Wong TW, et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Aug;10(8):1503-4; author reply 1504. doi: 10.3201/eid1008.040284. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004. PMID: 15503397 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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