| Autor: |
van Tonder AJ; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., McCullagh F; Cottenham Village College, Cottenham, UK., McKeand H; Cottenham Village College, Cottenham, UK., Thaw S; St Bede's Inter-Church School, Cambridge, UK., Bellis K; Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.; Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Raisen C; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Lay L; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Aggarwal D; Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.; Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Holmes M; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Parkhill J; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Harrison EM; Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.; Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Kucharski A; Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK., Conlan A; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. |
| Abstrakt: |
Aggregation of children in schools has been established to be a key driver of transmission of infectious diseases. Mathematical models of transmission used to predict the impact of control measures, such as vaccination and testing, commonly depend on self-reported contact data. However, the link between self-reported social contacts and pathogen transmission has not been well described. To address this, we used Staphylococcus aureus as a model organism to track transmission within two secondary schools in England and test for associations between self-reported social contacts, test positivity and the bacterial strain collected from the same students. Students filled out a social contact survey and their S. aureus colonization status was ascertained through self-administered swabs from which isolates were sequenced. Isolates from the local community were also sequenced to assess the representativeness of school isolates. A low frequency of genome-linked transmission precluded a formal analysis of links between genomic and social networks, suggesting that S. aureus transmission within schools is too rare to make it a viable tool for this purpose. Whilst we found no evidence that schools are an important route of transmission, increased colonization rates found within schools imply that school-age children may be an important source of community transmission. |
