Air Travel Contributes to the Spread of Influenza
September 30th, 2006 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
The sudden decrease in air travel after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 significantly slowed the spread of the seasonal flu in 2001-2002, according to Harvard researchers. This dramatic change in air travel turned out to be a natural study on the effect of flight restrictions on disease spread.
The researchers suggest that travel restrictions might be a way to help control the spread of a future influenza pandemic. The study also found that domestic air travel in November is an especially strong predictor of flu spread and that Thanksgiving is when new flu strains often spread across the country.
Source: John Brownstein, Ph.D., of Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, PLoS Medicine, September 2006
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