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Previous Volume 348:1256-1266 March 27, 2003 Number 13 Next

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"How contagious is it?" is a question regularly asked by family, friends, and colleagues, as well as school administrators and news reporters. The purpose of this article is to analyze a large and widely scattered body of data that addresses this question, focusing on common respiratory tract infections that are spread from person to person. Some respiratory tract infections are not at all contagious and will not be included. For example, histoplasmosis and coccidioidomycosis are caused by dimorphic fungi that need to replicate outside the human host in order to evolve into an infectious form. Agents such as Pneumocystis jiroveci . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Neisseria meningitidis

Streptococcus pyogenes

Streptococcus pneumoniae

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Influenzaviruses

Adenoviruses

Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Rhinoviruses

Conclusions

Source Information

From the Medical Service, Infectious Disease Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Departments of Medicine and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine — both in Houston.

Related Letters:

How Contagious Are Common Respiratory Tract Infections?
Hartzell J. D., Oster C. N., Gaydos J. C.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2003; 349:95, Jul 3, 2003. Correspondence

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