title: Factors determining human-to-human transmissibility of zoonotic pathogens via contact.
abstract: The pandemic potential of zoonotic pathogens lies in their ability to become efficiently transmissible amongst humans. Here, we focus on contact-transmitted pathogens and discuss the factors, at the pathogen, host and environmental levels that promote or hinder their human-to-human transmissibility via the following modes of contact transmission: skin contact, sexual contact, respiratory contact and multiple route contact. Factors common to several modes of transmission were immune evasion, high viral load, low infectious dose, crowding, promiscuity, and co-infections; other factors were specific for a pathogen or mode of contact transmission. The identification of such factors will lead to a better understanding of the requirements for human-to-human spread of pathogens, as well as improving risk assessment of newly emerging pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Viroscience, Postgraduate School Molecular Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mathilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.affiliation: Work Group Neglected Tropical Diseases, German Primate Center, Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knauf
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, UMRS 449, Laboratoire de Biologie Générale, Université Catholique de Lyon - EPHE, Lyon 69288, France; Molecular Basis of Viral Pathogenicity, International Centre for Research in Infectiology (CIRI), INSERM U1111 - CNRS UMR5308, Université Lyon 1, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon 69007, France.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Alison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Mather
authors.affiliation: Virus Ecology Unit, Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, MT, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Munster
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Center, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Viroscience, Postgraduate School Molecular Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: t.kuiken@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Thijs
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuiken
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D006801:Humans; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000635:transmission*