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Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic - The model behind the documentary
Petra Klepac1, Stephen Kissler2, Julia Gog2
1Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Epidemics
|March 27, 2018
Summary
A citizen science project used a mobile app to collect movement data, creating a detailed pandemic spread model for the UK. This simulation offers insights into influenza-like outbreaks, leveraging valuable volunteer data.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Computational modeling
- Citizen science
Background:
- The 1918 influenza pandemic centenary prompted the BBC documentary 'Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic'.
- A key component was the BBC Pandemic mobile app, a citizen science initiative collecting UK volunteer data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To build and execute a pandemic spread model using data from the BBC Pandemic app.
- To simulate an influenza-like outbreak within the UK.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a custom mobile phone app (BBC Pandemic) for data collection from UK volunteers.
- Developed and ran a mathematical model to simulate pandemic spread based on collected movement and contact data.
Main Results:
- Generated a detailed simulation of a pandemic influenza-like outbreak in the UK.
- The study highlights the potential of rich, app-derived datasets for epidemiological modeling.
Conclusions:
- The BBC Pandemic app data offers significant potential for understanding disease transmission.
- Further research is needed to fully exploit the comprehensive dataset for broader scientific insights.
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