Pandemic flu outbreak in US

Supercomputer 'Pink' simulates pandemic flu outbreak in US to help researchers with predictions

Simulation of a pandemic flu outbreak in the continental United States, initially introduced by the arrival of 10 infected individuals in Los Angeles. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the prevalence (number of symptomatic cases at any point in time), is shown on a logarithmic color scale, from 1 or fewer (blue) to 100 or more (red) cases per 1,000 persons. Without vaccination, antiviral drugs, or other mitigation strategies, the entire nation becomes infected within a few months. Depending on the reproductive number R0, effective intervention strategies including vaccination and targeted antiviral prophylaxis can be successful without resorting to economically damaging measures like school closure, quarantine, and work or travel restrictions. This large-scale agent-based simulation involves 280 million people, and uses demographic and worker flow data at the Census tract level, as well as long-range travel statistics, to describe the geographic movement of people. In this simulation, long-range travel is assumed to occur at a lower-than-normal rate (10 percent) due to travel advisories, but with no other mitigation strategies the pandemic quickly spreads nationwide, peaking about 90 days after the initial introduction.

Blue: Few or none of the population is showing symptoms, more precisely 1 or fewer per 1000 persons.

Green: 50 per 1,000

Red: 100 or more cases per 1,000 persons

[Timothy C. Germann, Kai Kadau, Catherine A. Macken (Los Alamos National Laboratory); Ira M. Longini Jr. (Emory University)]