Superspread can happen in hospitals. So, in 2003 and 2015, during the outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome MERS in South Korea, one patient infected with the MERS-CoV virus infected 82 people, including patients, visitors, and hospital staff. In another hospital, 44 people were infected by one patient. In general, 5 cases of such nosocomial infection with the SARS virus are known. And here the main factor is the proximity to the super-distributor.
Scientists believe that such a spread is possible for any infectious epidemic, for example, for tuberculosis. In West Africa, only 3% of those infected were infected with 61% of patients with Ebola fever.. Mostly these were young outgoing, sociable people who looked after the sick. In 2014, a popular witch doctor who healed from Ebola was buried in Guinea.. Hundreds of people came to say goodbye to the healer. And after a few days, more than three hundred people fell ill with Ebola in Guinea and in the neighborhood in Sierra Leone.
WHO published on its website the following: “It is estimated that the reproductive number of the new coronavirus, secondary infections caused by one infected person, is between two and 2.5. But in some cases, this figure is higher " So the 50-year-old Briton became infected with a coronovirus at a conference in Singapore. From the conference, he went not to quarantine, but to the ski resort of France, where he infected 11 people from different countries. In Wuhan, 13 nurses and a doctor contracted from one patient in January.
In South Korea, the COVID-19 virus initially gained momentum slowly, only 30 cases were recorded by mid-February. The 31st patient in two days visited 2 hospitals, two meetings in the church, where more than 500 people were present.
During the investigation, it became clear that it was she who became the “zero patient” for several thousand people.
Often, in a superspreader, the body can be very tolerant of the pathogen, therefore, there are no symptoms. Or vice versa - these are people with weakened immunity. The main thing is to identify the super-distributor as soon as possible and find all the people with whom he had contact. Well, to the people themselves during epidemics, if possible, reduce the number of contacts, and not rely on the fact that people around seem to be healthy.