Social connections are an important means for people to cope with adversity and illness. Thus, technologies, such as social network analysis, that can leverage close, face-to-face social networks could help optimize healthcare interventions and reduce healthcare-related costs, particularly in low-resource settings.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$99.00 per year
only $8.25 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Christakis, N. A. & Fowler, J. H. The collective dynamics of smoking in a large social network. N. Engl. J. Med. 358, 2249–2258 (2008).
Valente, T. W., Watkins, S. C., Jato, M. N., van der Straten, A. & Tsitsol, L. P. M. Social network associations with contraceptive use among Cameroonian women in voluntary associations. Soc. Sci. Med. 45, 677–687 (1997).
Fu, F., Christakis, N. A. & Fowler, J. H. Dueling biological and social contagions. Sci. Rep. 7, 43634 (2017).
Brito, I. L. et al. Transmission of human-associated microbiota along family and social networks. Nat. Microbiol. 4, 964–971 (2019).
Shridhar, S. V., Alexander, M. & Christakis, N. A. Characterizing super-spreaders using population-level weighted social networks in rural communities. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 380, 20210123 (2022).
Banerjee, A., Chandrasekhar, A. G., Duflo, E. & Jackson, M. O. Using gossips to spread information: theory and evidence from two randomized controlled trials. Rev. Econ. Stud. 86, 2453–2490 (2019).
Alexander, M., Forastiere, L., Gupta, S. & Christakis, N. A. Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India. PNAS 119, e2120742119 (2022).
Lungeanu, A. et al. Using Trellis software to enhance high-quality large-scale network data collection in the field. Soc. Netw. 66, 171–184 (2021).
Nishi, A., Dewey, G., Endo, A. & Young, S. D. Network interventions for managing the COVID-19 pandemic and sustaining economy. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 30285–30294 (2020).
Vogels, C. B. F. et al. SalivaDirect: a simplified and flexible platform to enhance SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity. Medicine 2, 263–280 (2021).
Yang, F. et al. Pay-it-forward gonorrhoea and chlamydia testing among men who have sex with men in China: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infect. Dis. 20, 976–982 (2020).
Acknowledgements
Our work is supported by the NOMIS Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vishnempet Shridhar, S., Christakis, N.A. Approaching disease transmission with network science. Nat Rev Bioeng 2, 6–7 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00139-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00139-0
