bizarre. the term "superspreaders" has been used before; I understand the reference to shedding the viral load but I don't think its used correctly in this circumstance. This certainly was not coined by anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of how this particular virus works. I think someone just misheard "superspreader," which has been used for two or three weeks now in various newspapers and magazines.

I think it's an error. Just do a google news search.
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?...ews&storyID=2547704 is one of many stories about "super speaders" (two words) and this particular NYT story http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/science/...special/11QUAR.html references the super shedder phrase, quoting someone from the WHO. But look at their site and you find no "shredder" references, and at least one "spreader" reference: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2003_04_09/en/

Jargon corruption!

Bet you a fiver the U.S. tries to use 'Supershedding Population' as pretext for the next instalment of 'Shock & Awe, The Movie'