superspreader

American  

[soo-per-spred-er] / ˈsu pərˌsprɛd ər /

Or super-spreader

noun

1. Pathology. a person who spreads a contagious disease more easily and widely than the average infected person.

   About forty percent of the superspreaders had no symptoms of the virus.

2. superspreading event.

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Other Word Forms

• super-spreading adjective
• superspreading adjective

Etymology

Origin of superspreader

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

The social media sites noted that Kennedy’s group trafficked in medical misinformation, and a science research team labeled him a “superspreader” of bogus claims about COVID-19 vaccines.

From Los Angeles Times

He is a superspreader of distraction.

From Salon

"And the fact that superspreader events play such a significant role in the early stages of an epidemic supports the hypothesis that the real network of contacts is, like many other social networks, highly heterogeneous."

From Science Daily

Leading into Dec. 31, 2020, officials fearing COVID-19 “superspreader” gatherings told people to stay home.

From Los Angeles Times

In February 2020, when Mina was at Harvard University, he and his colleagues developed a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test but were prevented from launching it until FDA reviewed evidence of its efficacy—even as one of the first superspreader events unfolded at a Biogen conference in Boston.

From Science Magazine