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. 2018 Apr 11;18(1):172.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-018-3073-1.

Characteristics of human encounters and social mixing patterns relevant to infectious diseases spread by close contact: a survey in Southwest Uganda

O le Polain de Waroux  1 , S Cohuet  2 , D Ndazima  3 , A J Kucharski  4 , A Juan-Giner  2 , S Flasche  4 , E Tumwesigye  5 , R Arinaitwe  3 , J Mwanga-Amumpaire  3   6 , Y Boum 2nd  3 , F Nackers  7 , F Checchi  4 , R F Grais  2 , W J Edmunds  4
Affiliations

Characteristics of human encounters and social mixing patterns relevant to infectious diseases spread by close contact: a survey in Southwest Uganda

O le Polain de Waroux et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Quantification of human interactions relevant to infectious disease transmission through social contact is central to predict disease dynamics, yet data from low-resource settings remain scarce.

Methods: We undertook a social contact survey in rural Uganda, whereby participants were asked to recall details about the frequency, type, and socio-demographic characteristics of any conversational encounter that lasted for ≥5 min (henceforth defined as 'contacts') during the previous day. An estimate of the number of 'casual contacts' (i.e. < 5 min) was also obtained.

Results: In total, 566 individuals were included in the study. On average participants reported having routine contact with 7.2 individuals (range 1-25). Children aged 5-14 years had the highest frequency of contacts and the elderly (≥65 years) the fewest (P < 0.001). A strong age-assortative pattern was seen, particularly outside the household and increasingly so for contacts occurring further away from home. Adults aged 25-64 years tended to travel more often and further than others, and males travelled more frequently than females.

Conclusion: Our study provides detailed information on contact patterns and their spatial characteristics in an African setting. It therefore fills an important knowledge gap that will help more accurately predict transmission dynamics and the impact of control strategies in such areas.

Keywords: Close contact transmission; Infectious diseases; Social contact; Survey; Uganda.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Written informed consent (in the form of a signature or a thumbmark) was sought for individuals aged > 17 years, and from a parent or carer for children < 18 years. In addition, assent was sought from children aged 7 – 17 years. Approval was obtained from the Ethical review boards of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Faculty of Medicine Research & Ethics Committee of the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), the Institutional Ethical Review Board of the MUST, the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

Yap Boum is an editor of BMC Infectious Diseases. The authors declare they have no other competing interest.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of Reported Contacts, Including All Contacts (a) and Physical contacts (b), Sheema, Uganda, January – March 2014. the vertical dotted lines represent the 5% centile, the median and 95% centile of the total number of reported contacts. The x axis ticks are placed on the left side of the bars
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Average Number of Reported Contacts By Age Group, Sheema, Uganda, January – March 2014. Numbersin each cell represent the average number of contacts between between age groups corrected for reciprocity
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Contact Matrices With Household members and Non-Household Members (Left upper and lower panel), for Physical and Non-Physical Contacts (Middle upper and lower panel), and for Contacts Made Within and Outside the Village (Right upper and lower panel), Sheema, Uganda, January – March 2014
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Distance Travelled By Study Participants in the 24 Hours Preceding the Survey, Overall (a) and By Categories of Distance, Age and Sex (b), Sheema, Uganda, January – March 2014
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Epidemic Simulation Using Matrices on Physical Contacts from Uganda (a) and Great Britain (b), for a Hypothetical Respiratory Infection In An Immune-Naïve Population, with the Proportion Infected by Age Group (c), the Epidemic Size by Age group (d), the Overall Proportion Infected (d) and the Basic Reproduction Number R0 (F). a: Matrix for physical contacts in Uganda. b: Matrix of physical contacts in Great Britain. c: Epidemic final size simulation: Proportion of individuals infected by age group in Great Britain (blue) and Uganda (grey), with error bars representing the 95% confidence interval. The results are presented for a q value of 33%. e: Epidemic size by age group, based on a total population size of 100,000 in Great Britain and in Uganda. e: Total proportion of people who were infected at the end of the epidemic in each setting. f: Estimates of R0for each setting, based on aq value of 33%, with dots showing the mean value and the bars showing the 95%
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