Big Families Share Viruses in a Big Way (IMAGE)

University of Utah Health

Big Families Share Viruses in a Big Way

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The BIG-LoVE (Utah Better Identification of Germs-Longitudinal Viral Epidemiology) study by investigators at the University of Utah School of Medicine shows that every child increases the risk that a household will be infected with respiratory virus. At one extreme, childless households are only sick for 7 percent of the year (3-4 weeks). By contrast, families with 6 children are sick for 87 percent of the year (45 weeks).

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University of Utah School of Medicine

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