Superspreaders

October 21, 2014

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Mallon-Mary_01 — Mary Mallon was known as “Typhoid Mary”, a woman who was infected and spread the bacteria that caused typhoid fever to others, but showed no symptoms of the disease herself. (From a newspaper article in *The* *New York American* dated June 20, 1909)

Studying disease superspreaders. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Typhoid Mary was the first known case of what’s known as a superspreader—a person who carries high levels of a pathogen, but has no disease symptoms. According to Stanford immunologist Denise Monack, superspreaders make up 20% of populations, but account for 80% of disease transmission. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, she reports that superspreader mice have a unique ability to tolerate disturbances to the microbial ecology of their intestines.

DENISE MONACK (Stanford University):

What we find is that the immune system in these superspreaders is rewired in some way, and it’s making them tolerant to inflammation in the gut.

HIRSHON:

She says these animals’ unusual immune responses could be a key to understanding and treating a host of illnesses in which the immune system overreacts. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.