The Role of Human Transportation Networks in Mediating the Genetic Structure of Seasonal Influenza in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of accounting for human mobility networks when modeling epidemics in order to accurately predict spatial dynamics. However, little is known about the impact these movement networks have on the genetic structure of pathogen populations and whether these effects are scale-dependent. We investigated how human movement along the aviation and commuter networks contributed to intra-seasonal genetic structure of influenza A epidemics in the continental United States using spatially-referenced hemagglutinin nucleotide sequences collected from 2003-2013 for both the H3N2 and H1N1 subtypes. Comparative analysis of these transportation networks revealed that the commuter network is highly spatially-organized and more heavily traveled than the aviation n

SUBMITTER: Bozick BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4472840 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature