Variola minor in Braganca Paulista County, 1956: household aggregation of the disease and the influence of household size on the attack rate

Household aggregation of cases, one possible characteristic of person-to-person transmitted disease, was formally tested in one epidemic of variola minor by using a pair statistic. A significant result was found for all households as well as for households grouped by the type of environment, or by the phase of the epidemic growth in time. Secondary attack rates, when related to household size (number of susceptibles) showed only a marginal trend in rural households but no trend in urban or semi-rural households.