superspreader

English

Etymology

super- +‎ spreader

Noun

superspreader (plural superspreaders)

1. (medicine) A patient responsible for spreading an infection to many other people.
   • 2002, The Responsive Community‎

     That's a real breach of liberty, but suppose he had been an irresponsible superspreader like Typhoid Mary and caused the disease to spin out of control?

   • 2007, Andrew Nikiforuk, Pandemonium:

     Another SARS superspreader took the invader by the hand to Singapore's 1200-bed Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

   • 2008, Richard Ostfeld, Felicia Keesing, Valerie T Eviner, Infectious disease ecology

     Another well-known superspreader was Gaetan Dugas, considered patient zero for the emergence of HIV in North America; he was a promiscuous homosexual...

Related terms

• supercontacter