TY - JOUR AU - Shen, Zhuang AU - Ning, Fang AU - Zhou, Weigong AU - He, Xiong AU - Lin, Changying AU - Chin, Daniel P. AU - Zhu, Zonghan AU - Schuchat, Anne T1 - Superspreading SARS Events, Beijing, 2003 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2004 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 256 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Superspreading events were pivotal in the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). We investigated superspreading in one transmission chain early in Beijing’s epidemic. Superspreading was defined as transmission of SARS to at least eight contacts. An index patient with onset of SARS 2 months after hospital admission was the source of four generations of transmission to 76 case-patients, including 12 healthcare workers and several hospital visitors. Four (5%) case circumstances met the superspreading definition. Superspreading appeared to be associated with older age (mean 56 vs. 44 years), case fatality (75% vs. 16%, p = 0.02, Fisher exact test), number of close contacts (36 vs. 0.37) and attack rate among close contacts (43% vs. 18.5%, p < 0.025). Delayed recognition of SARS in a hospitalized patient permitted transmission to patients, visitors, and healthcare workers. Older age and number of contacts merit investigation in future studies of superspreading. KW - SARS virus KW - disease outbreaks KW - nosocomial infection KW - disease transmission KW - risk factors KW - epidemiology KW - contact tracing KW - China DO - 10.3201/eid1002.030732 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/2/03-0732_article ER - End of Reference