{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,7]],"date-time":"2026-11-07T05:50:28Z","timestamp":1794030628694,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]],"date-time":"2023-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1694131200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000272","name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000272","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Understanding the dynamics of an infectious disease outbreak linked to sexual activity requires valid expectations of likely counts of unique sex partners during the infectious period. Typically, age is the key demographic trait linked to expected partner count, with many transmission models removing adults from the sexually active pool abruptly at a pre-specified age threshold. Modelling the rate of decline in partner counts with age would benefit from a better description of empirical evidence.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>During the 2022 mpox epidemic in the UK, we asked individuals about their partner counts in the preceding three weeks, which is about the same as usual infectious period for persons with active mpox. We used negative binomial regression (all responses) and Weibull regression (non-zero responses) to analyse the relationship between age and partner counts, adjusted for other demographic data (such as education level and occupation), sub-dividing by three types of respondent: men who have sex with men (MSM), men who have sex with women, and women who have sex with men.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Most respondents had zero or one recent partner, all distributions were skewed. There was a relatively linear declining relationship between age and partner counts for heterosexual partnership groups, but a peak in partner counts and concurrency for MSMs in middle age years (age 35\u201354), especially for MSM who seemed to be in a highly sexually active subgroup.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Useful data were collected that can be used to describe sex partner counts during the British mpox epidemic and that show distinctive partner count relationships with age, dependent on partnership type.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0291001","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]],"date-time":"2023-09-08T17:30:34Z","timestamp":1694194234000},"page":"e0291001","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["The relationship between age and sex partner counts during the mpox outbreak in the UK, 2022"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5272-7995","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Julii","family":"Brainard","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1277-2564","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Louise E.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6200-8804","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Henry W. W.","family":"Potts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"G. James","family":"Rubin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]]},"reference":[{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0291001.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1321","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(22)00411-X","article-title":"Demographic and clinical characteristics of confirmed human monkeypox virus cases in individuals attending a sexual health centre in London, UK: an observational analysis","volume":"22","author":"N Girometti","year":"2022","journal-title":"The Lancet Infectious Diseases"},{"issue":"6615","key":"pone.0291001.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"90","DOI":"10.1126\/science.add4507","article-title":"Heavy-tailed sexual contact networks and monkeypox epidemiology in the global outbreak, 2022","volume":"378","author":"A Endo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0291001.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"939","DOI":"10.1093\/aje\/kwaa239","article-title":"Disseminated effects in agent-based models: A potential outcomes framework and application to inform preexposure prophylaxis coverage levels for HIV prevention","volume":"190","author":"AL Buchanan","year":"2021","journal-title":"American journal of epidemiology"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref004","volume-title":"Open Forum Infectious Diseases","author":"J Labs","year":"2022"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1743-6109.2010.02012.x","article-title":"Sexual behavior in the United States: Results from a national probability sample of men and women ages 14\u201394","volume":"7","author":"D Herbenick","year":"2010","journal-title":"The Journal of Sexual Medicine"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0291001.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"826","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-13-826","article-title":"Age biases in a large HIV and sexual behaviour-related internet survey among MSM","volume":"13","author":"U Marcus","year":"2013","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref007","article-title":"Mpox knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and intended behaviour in the general population and men who are gay, bisexual, and who have sex with men.","author":"LE Smith","year":"2022","journal-title":"medRxiv"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eclinm.2018.08.001","article-title":"STI risk perception in the British population and how it relates to sexual behaviour and STI healthcare use: findings from a cross-sectional survey (Natsal-3).","volume":"2","author":"S Clifton","year":"2018","journal-title":"EClinicalMedicine"},{"issue":"9907","key":"pone.0291001.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1781","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(13)62035-8","article-title":"Changes in sexual attitudes and lifestyles in Britain through the life course and over time: findings from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal).","volume":"382","author":"CH Mercer","year":"2013","journal-title":"The Lancet"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0291001.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.1177\/0272989X16668509","article-title":"Progression and transmission of HIV\/AIDS (PATH 2.0) a new, agent-based model to estimate HIV transmissions in the United States.","volume":"37","author":"C Gopalappa","year":"2017","journal-title":"Medical Decision Making."},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0291001.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"506","DOI":"10.1089\/apc.2020.0151","article-title":"Added benefits of pre-exposure prophylaxis use on HIV incidence with minimal changes in efficiency in the context of high treatment engagement among men who have sex with men","volume":"34","author":"AL Singleton","year":"2020","journal-title":"AIDS Patient Care and STDs"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0291001.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.18564\/jasss.4352","article-title":"Leveraging modularity during replication of high-fidelity models: lessons from replicating an agent-based model for HIV prevention","volume":"23","author":"W Vermeer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0291001.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e50522","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0050522","article-title":"What drives the US and Peruvian HIV epidemics in men who have sex with men (MSM)?","volume":"7","author":"SM Goodreau","year":"2012","journal-title":"PloS 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Statistics.","author":"Office for National Statistics","year":"2016","journal-title":"SOC 2000: Previous Version of the Standard Occupational Classification."},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref018","author":"D McLennan","year":"2019"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"n608","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.n608","article-title":"Adherence to the test, trace, and isolate system in the UK: Results from 37 nationally representative surveys","volume":"372","author":"LE Smith","year":"2021","journal-title":"British Medical Journal"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0291001.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1093\/bib\/bbz016","article-title":"Sensitivity and specificity of information criteria","volume":"21","author":"JJ Dziak","year":"2020","journal-title":"Briefings in Bioinformatics"},{"issue":"37","key":"pone.0291001.ref021","first-page":"1201","article-title":"Prevalence and awareness of HIV infection among men who have sex with men-21 cities, United States, 2008","volume":"59","author":"A Smith","year":"2010","journal-title":"Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0291001.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-11-189","article-title":"Number of casual male sexual partners and associated factors among men who have sex with men: results from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system.","volume":"11","author":"ES Rosenberg","year":"2011","journal-title":"BMC public health."},{"issue":"14","key":"pone.0291001.ref023","first-page":"1","article-title":"HIV risk, prevention, and testing behaviors among men who have sex with men\u2014National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System, 21 US cities, United States, 2008.","volume":"60","author":"TJ Finlayson","year":"2011","journal-title":"MMWR Surveill Summ"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1097\/OLQ.0b013e31823d2b24","article-title":"Comparison of demographic and behavioral characteristics of men who have sex with men by enrollment venue type in the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System.","author":"AC Voetsch","year":"2012","journal-title":"Sexually Transmitted Diseases."},{"issue":"35","key":"pone.0291001.ref025","first-page":"1126","article-title":"Strategies adopted by gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men to prevent monkeypox virus transmission\u2014United States, August 2022","volume":"71","author":"KP Delaney","year":"2022","journal-title":"Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref026","article-title":"Monkeypox cases are plummeting. Scientists are debating why","author":"K. Kupferschmidt","year":"2022","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"pone.0291001.ref027","author":"J Brainard","year":"2023","journal-title":"Evaluation of three strategies to limit mpox outbreaks in an agent based model. (in preparation)."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0291001.ref028","first-page":"e9357","article-title":"Development of an agent-based model to investigate the impact of HIV self-testing programs on men who have sex with men in Atlanta and Seattle.","volume":"4","author":"W Luo","year":"2018","journal-title":"JMIR Public Health and Surveillance"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0291001.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"357","DOI":"10.1097\/OLQ.0000000000000980","article-title":"Proportion of incident HIV cases among men who have sex with men attributable to gonorrhea and chlamydia: a modeling analysis.","volume":"46","author":"J Jones","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sexually Transmitted Diseases"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0291001","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]],"date-time":"2023-09-08T17:30:50Z","timestamp":1694194250000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0291001"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Soham","family":"Bandyopadhyay","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0291001","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,8]]}}}