While at anchor and after the departure from Africa, those aboard ship were exposed to almost continuous dangers, including raids at port by hostile tribes, epidemics, attack by pirates or enemy ships, and bad weather.
During major epidemics, attack rates can range from 100 to 800 per 100 000 population.
In comparison, the yearly influenza epidemics (attack rate of 5-10%) results in approximately 2 700 cases of hospitalizations [ 34] and approximately 1 000 deaths [ 39].
In major epidemics, attack rates range from 100 to 800 per 100,000 population, but individual communities have reported rates as high as 1,000 per 100,000.
In major African epidemics, attack rates range from 100 to 800 per 100 000 population, but individual communities have reported rates as high as 1%, caused almost entirely by group A meningococci [ 5].
For example, under baseline assumptions, an 8-week campaign initiated 2 weeks before epidemic onset (August 24) reduced the attack rate by approximately 83%; an 8-week campaign initiated 1 month into the epidemic (October 5) reduced the attack rate by approximately 47%.
* No single government agency is responsible for making sure hospitals can handle a surge in patients triggered by an epidemic or attack.
We compared a variety of summary measures such as the probability of having a large outbreak, the epidemic evolution (attack rate, basic reproductive number, peak day, proportion of infected by age) and the spatial diffusion, i.e., the average distance from the seed area for individuals infected since the start of the epidemic as a function of time.
However, in the 2006 epidemic, the attack rate increased to 45% in some places (4 ).
