Word: viruses
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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With the H1N1 swine flu virus seemingly entrenched in both Mexico and the U.S., and continually surfacing elsewhere, a pandemic may be inevitable - flu viruses are extremely transmissible and hard to control. But that hasn't stopped health officials from trying. In the U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that affected schools "should strongly consider temporarily closing so that we can be as safe as possible," prompting the closure of schools with confirmed cases - involving some 50,000 students - in several states. At his news conference on Wednesday night, Obama also said that "every American should know that their...
...Napolitano on the possibility of virtually sealing off the border with Mexico. Said Republican Senator John McCain in a statement, "I continue to believe that all available options to end this crisis must remain under consideration, including closing the border if it would prevent further transmission of this deadly virus...
Health officials argue that because the H1N1 swine flu virus is already present in so many countries, and readily capable of spreading from person to person, it's far too late to try to isolate one or two countries. Although uninfected countries may be able to delay the introduction of swine flu by imposing draconian limits on international travel, they would not likely be able to stave off the virus for good - and the economic losses resulting from the travel ban may far outweigh any benefits. One 2007 study by the Brookings Institution estimated, for example, that a 95% reduction...
...Once the virus has spread beyond its initial focus, travel restrictions just aren't effective," says Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Washington. With 4,000 flights a day between the U.S. and Mexico, "it's not worth the social disruption it would cause...
That's not to say that very strict restrictions wouldn't have some effect on slowing the virus. In a 2006 study, Harvard epidemiologists John Brownstein and Kenneth Mandl examined the effect of the sharp reduction in air travel after the Sept. 11 attacks on that year's flu season. They found that the initial flight ban and general decline in air travel in the weeks after delayed the onset of the flu season but did little to reduce the overall number of infections and deaths that year...