Pandemic
Watch contacts
for symptoms during
incubation period.
If contact shows
symptoms, keep away
from others, test, and
provide care.
If contact shows
symptoms, keep away
from others, test, and
provide care.
Repeat contact tracing
cycle until no new
diseased patients.
After incubation period
with no symptoms,
contact is not at risk of
developing disease.
If no contacts,
no further spread
of disease occurs.
Ask about contacts.
Ask about contacts.
Ask about contacts.
Missed
contact
May spread disease
by new contacts
Contact is not at risk
of spreading disease.
Watch contacts
for symptoms of
disease during
incubation period.
?
? ? ?
diseased
patient
diseased
patient
#OF
DAYS
# OF
DAYS
# OF
DAYS
diseased
patient
Lastly, the symptoms of SARS seem to appear
before
the person is
infectious. So SARS patients can be identified and isolated before they
release the SARS virus into the air with every cough. This is different
from many other diseases. For example, with the flu, people feel well
but are infectious before symptoms appear. They spread the flu virus a
full day or more before they realize they’re sick.
Interviewing patients and tracking their contacts during a disease’s incubation period is an effective
way to contain the spread of disease. The incubation period for SARS is usually 2 to 7 days.
CONTACT TRACING FOR
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
CASE STUDY: MONKEYPOX
People are not the only passengers on commercial planes. Nearly
one and a half billion live animals—including mammals, birds, fish,
reptiles, amphibians, and insects—reached the United States from
countries around the world between 2000 and 2006. And those are just
the legal imports. The Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that
illegal animal trade is a $6 billion global industry. They think that tens
30
