The Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences colloquium series presents:

"Do Social Gatherings Predict Influenza Mortality?"
with Andrew Noymer, Assistant Professor of Sociology, UC Irvine

Thursday November 12, 2009
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112

This talk will be partly a summary of the demographic and public-health aspects of influenza pandemics, and partly about some new empirical findings on the relationship between social gatherings and influenza mortality.

The current "swine flu" influenza pandemic is the first pandemic since the 1968 "Hong Kong" flu.  It is also the first pandemic of H1N1 influenza since the disastrous 1918 "Spanish" flu, although signs point to this pandemic being less severe.  This talk will offer some perspective on how a pandemic differs from a regular flu season, and how the new pandemic has tested some mathematical models.  The findings on social gatherings are based on analysis of a database on monthly influenza mortality in the United States, 1959-present, that I have compiled.

For further information, please contact Janet Phelps, jjphelps@uci.edu.