New model of disease contagion ranks U.S. airports in terms of their spreading influence
World map shows flight routes from the 40 largest U.S. airports.Image: Christos Nicolaides, Juanes Research Group Public health crises of the past decade — such as the 2003 SARS outbreak, which spread to 37 countries and caused about 1,000 deaths, and the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic that killed about 300,000 people worldwide — have heightened awareness that new viruses or bacteria could spread quickly across the globe, aided by air travel. While epidemiologists and scientists who study complex network systems — such as contagion patterns and information spread in social networks — are working to create mathematical models that describe the worldwide spread of disease, to date these models have focused on the final stages of epidemics, examining the locations that ultimately develop the highest infection rates. But a new study by researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental...