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Originally Posted by stingc
This is a nice way to scare people, but isn't exactly true quantitatively. Each link in the network away from the "source" of a particular disease has a much reduced probability of catching it.
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Sounds like you're saying that the shortest pathway that connects two people AND contains disease is going to be longer than the shortest pathway, period. I agree, but does anybody have any idea how much longer? I don't think so.
As far as the source goes, it might be long gone, but the disease is still moving all around through the network. You can visualize it as an amoeba that expands and contracts depending on the frequency of contact relative to the frequency of treatment along any particular pathway.