The Diffusion of Influenza: Patterns and Paradigms

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate how geographic strategies can be used in the control and prevention of influenza. Dr Pyle reviews the familiar story of the global impact of influenza through the centuries, but with an eye toward understanding the spread of the virus in human populations. Because improved viral and epidemiologic data became available in the latter half of this century, the author can describe the geographic movement of influenza in increasing detail. Seven chapters of historical review, both of health issues and public policy, lead to the final chapter describing geographic models that might be applied to public health practice. For the most part, this book is written clearly, and the information is accessible to both epidemiologists and clinicians interested in influenza. General readers, however, will have difficulty with the final chapter on the simulation of influenza diffusion when Dr Pyle goes beyond simple regression