Virological factors that increase the transmissibility of emerging human viruses.

ABSTRACT: The early detection of pathogens with epidemic potential is of major importance to public health. Most emerging infections result in dead-end "spillover" events in which a pathogen is transmitted from an animal reservoir to a human but is unable to achieve the sustained human-to-human transmission necessary for a full-blown epidemic. It is therefore critical to determine why only some virus infections are efficiently transmitted among humans whereas others are not. We sought to determine which biological features best characterized those viruses that have achieved sustained human transmission. Accordingly, we compiled a database of 203 RNA and DNA human viruses and used an information theoretic approach to assess which of a set of key biological variables were the best predictors of human-

SUBMITTER: Geoghegan JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4839412 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature