[AG-TECH] Access Grid Seminar

[Lee Margetts]

*** Apologies for Cross Posting ***

"Computational Infectious Disease Modelling to Aid Public Health
Preparedness"

Dr Iain Barrass, Health Protection Agency

Friday, 8th September 2006, 1400-1500 (UTC+1)

Room 1.10, Kilburn Building

"Infectious diseases such as smallpox and pandemic influenza pose a grave
threat to human health. Estimating the spatial spread of disease through a
mobile population is an important aspect of guiding public health policy
in the event of an outbreak. Upon detection of a deliberate covert release
of the smallpox virus, for example, public health authorities could be in
a position to consider intervention strategies such as case isolation and
vaccination of case contacts. For a strain of pandemic influenza in the
UK, however, suitable vaccines may not yet be available.

"In this seminar we examine the spatial aspects of disease spread in the
United Kingdom as described by a meta-population patch model. Further, we
consider the effects of interventions in terms of mitigating the disease
outbreak. Finally, we see how increasingly complicated epidemiological
models lead to an increased consumption of computing resources and we
consider the continued development of such models and the associated
computational issues."

More information about MC/ESMW seminars, including instructions for
joining by Access Grid, can be found at
http://www.mc.manchester.ac.uk/research/seminars/