A coronavirus that may cause SARS. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A new study from MIT looks at the role US airports may play in the spread of an epidemic.
Epidemiologists usually study the spread of disease backwards, looking at the locations that end up with the highest rates of infection.
Researchers at MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) took a different approach by examining the first few days of an epidemic and its spreading patterns. This may eventually help with containment of infections.
The study included 40 of the largest US airports. Based on travel patterns, geographic location, airport interactions and waiting times researchers determined which airports would be most likely to quickly spread disease.
New York’s Kennedy airport is ranked first in the model as the most likely to spread contagion followed by airports in Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Francisco, Newark, Chicago (O’Hare) and Washington (Dulles).
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