Out and About

Most modern-day societies are highly mobile, with people journeying thousands of miles by road, rail and air for work, family and fun. But as well as packing their suitcases, these travellers also bring along unwanted biological baggage: viruses. Nearly four million people travel between states in the US for work, as shown in this map, ranging from just a handful (blue lines) to 10,000 (red) moving between major cities every single day. By mapping these travel networks onto patterns of flu virus infection, researchers have found that the spread and evolution of the virus across the country closely lines up to commuter routes. Thousands of people die from flu every year in the US alone, and the spread of outbreaks can be tricky to predict. Understanding more about how infections spread across state lines through travel networks helps public health teams plan the best way to keep them under control.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Image from work by Brooke Bozick and Leslie Real
• Emory University, USA
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Pathogens, June 2015