Mosoka Fallah|Laura Skrip|Shai Gertler|Dan Yamin|Alison P. Galvani
Quantifying Poverty as a Driver of Ebola Transmission
University of Liberia|Yale University|Yale University|Yale University|Tel Aviv University|Yale University|University of Liberia|Yale University
background poverty implicated challenge control current ebola outbreak west africa although disparities affected countries appreciated disparities within west african countries investigated drivers ebola transmission quantify role poverty plays transmission ebola analyzed heterogeneity ebola incidence transmission factors among 300 communities categorized socioeconomic status ses within montserrado county liberia methodologyprincipal findings evaluated 4437 ebola cases reported february 28 2014 december 1 2014 montserrado county determine sesstratified temporal trends drivers ebola transmission dataset including dates symptom onset hospitalization death specified community residence used stratify cases high middle low ses additionally information 9129 contacts provided subset 1585 traced individuals evaluate transmission within across socioeconomic subpopulations well trajectory outbreak analyzed data timedependent stochastic model cases impoverished communities reported three contacts average cases high ses communities p0001 transmission model shows infected individuals middle low ses communities associated 15 95 ci 1416 35 95 ci 3139 times many secondary cases high ses communities respectively furthermore spread ebola across montserrado county originated areas lower ses conclusionssignificance individuals areas poverty associated high rates transmission spread ebola regions thus ebola could effectively prevented contained disease interventions targeted areas extreme poverty funding dedicated development projects meet basic needs