ArticleHealth science reports2026
Whispers of Pathogens; Social Contagion in Infectious Disease Dynamics: A Review.
Article in Health science reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Preparation of Au/RuOMikrochimica acta · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Aims: Infectious disease dynamics are deeply intertwined with social structures, behaviors, and information systems. This narrative review examines how social factors conceptualized through the integrated lens of "social contagion" within a syndemic framework shape infectious disease patterns from January 2000 to January 2024. Methods: Literature was retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using targeted combinations of terms related to social determinants, networks, communication, and digital epidemiology. Foundational pre-2000 works were consulted for theoretical grounding. Studies were selected based on their relevance to understanding how social processes influence infectious disease dynamics. The selection process prioritized high-impact empirical studies, meta-analyses, and seminal theoretical works that collectively informed the four thematic areas presented. As this is a narrative review, no statistical analyses were performed. The synthesis approach followed established guidelines for narrative reviews. Results: Four major themes emerged from the synthesis of identified literature: (1) structural and commercial determinants socioeconomic inequality, racism, and commercial practices produce environments where infectious and non-communicable diseases interact synergistically; (2) network effects household, occupational, and mobility patterns shape transmission pathways and superspreading events; (3) belief systems misinformation, behavioral contagion, and varying levels of institutional trust influence vaccine uptake and protective behaviors; and (4) diagnosis and intervention digital epidemiology and agent-based models offer tools for integrating social data into disease surveillance and response. Conclusion: Infectious diseases are fundamentally biosocial phenomena. Effective control requires moving beyond biomedical models toward approaches centered on social epidemiology, equity, and trust-building. Future research must employ transdisciplinary collaboration to better measure and model the complex interactions that constitute social contagion.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.