Spatiotemporal Patterns and Diffusion of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in British India.

ABSTRACT: The factors that drive spatial heterogeneity and diffusion of pandemic influenza remain debated. We characterized the spatiotemporal mortality patterns of the 1918 influenza pandemic in British India and studied the role of demographic factors, environmental variables, and mobility processes on the observed patterns of spread. Fever-related and all-cause excess mortality data across 206 districts in India from January 1916 to December 1920 were analyzed while controlling for variation in seasonality particular to India. Aspects of the 1918 autumn wave in India matched signature features of influenza pandemics, with high disease burden among young adults, (moderate) spatial heterogeneity in burden, and highly synchronized outbreaks across the country deviating from annual seasonality. Impor

SUBMITTER: Reyes O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6269240 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature