Air Travel and Pandemic Control

Influenza epidemics often begin in the New York City area, as shown by the red area in the map on top, built of data from 122 cities for the five years prior to September 11, 2001. Because of reduced flying activity around New York City after 9/11, the 2001-2002 influenza epidemic began in the Midwest, as shown below. That season was also characterized by slower spread and a later national peak. Says instructor in pediatrics John Brownstein, of the Children's Hospital Informatics Program at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and lead author of a just-published paper about this research, "For the first time, we've been able to show--using real data--that air travel spreads the flu, suggesting that reducing the number of air passengers might ameliorate a flu pandemic."