Location-specific patterns of exposure to recent pre-pandemic strains of influenza A in southern China

Justin Lessler, Derek A.T. Cummings (), Jonathan M. Read, Shuying Wang, Huachen Zhu, Gavin J.D. Smith, Yi Guan, Chao Qiang Jiang and Steven Riley
Additional contact information
Justin Lessler: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public, Health
Derek A.T. Cummings: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public, Health
Jonathan M. Read: Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool
Shuying Wang: Guangzhou No. 12 Hospital
Huachen Zhu: International Institute of Infection and Immunity, Shantou University Medical College
Gavin J.D. Smith: Laboratory of Virus Evolution, Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Yi Guan: International Institute of Infection and Immunity, Shantou University Medical College
Chao Qiang Jiang: Guangzhou No. 12 Hospital
Steven Riley: Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2011, vol. 2, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Variation in influenza incidence between locations is commonly observed on large spatial scales. It is unclear whether such variation occurs on smaller spatial scales and whether it is the result of heterogeneities in population demographics or more subtle differences in population structure and connectivity. Here we show that significant differences in immunity to influenza A viruses among communities in China are not explained by differences in population demographics. We randomly selected households from five randomly selected locations near Guangzhou, China to answer a questionnaire and provide a blood sample for serological testing against five recently circulating influenza viruses. We find a significant reduction in the frequency of detectable neutralization titers with increasing age, levelling off in older age groups. There are significant differences between locations in age, employment status, vaccination history, household size and housing conditions. However, after adjustment, significant variations in the frequency of detectable neutralization titers persists between locations. These results suggest there are characteristics of communities that drive influenza transmission dynamics apart from individual and household level risk factors, and that such factors have effects independent of strain.

Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1432 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:2:y:2011:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1432

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1432

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().