About the Authors
- Joël Mossong
-
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliations Microbiology Unit, Laboratoire National de Santé, Luxembourg, Luxembourg , Centre de Recherche Public Santé, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Niel Hens
-
Affiliation Center for Statistics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
- Mark Jit
-
Affiliation Modelling and Economics Unit, Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London, United Kingdom
- Philippe Beutels
-
Affiliation Unit Health Economic and Modeling Infectious Diseases, Center for the Evaluation of Vaccination, Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
- Kari Auranen
-
Affiliation Department of Vaccines, National Public Health Institute KTL, Helsinki, Finland
- Rafael Mikolajczyk
-
Affiliation School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
- Marco Massari
-
Affiliation Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
- Stefania Salmaso
-
Affiliation Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
- Gianpaolo Scalia Tomba
-
Affiliation Department of Mathematics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
- Jacco Wallinga
-
Affiliation Centre for Infectious Disease Control Netherlands, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- Janneke Heijne
-
Affiliation Centre for Infectious Disease Control Netherlands, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- Malgorzata Sadkowska-Todys
-
Affiliation National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland
- Magdalena Rosinska
-
Affiliation National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland
- W. John Edmunds
-
Affiliation Modelling and Economics Unit, Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London, United Kingdom
Competing Interests
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Author Contributions
JM, NH, MJ, JW, and WJE drafted the manuscript in consultation with all the other authors; the original idea and contact diary were conceived by WJE. JM conducted a pilot study on an adapted diary, and coordinated overall survey design and data collection. JM, MJ, PB, KA, RM, MM, GST, JW, JH, MST, and MR conducted the surveys in their respective countries. NH conducted the data mining and surface smoothing. JW and JH conducted the epidemic modelling. All authors approved the final manuscript.