Public Lectures from the Santa Fe Institute
Valarie Morris
January 14, 2010
The Santa Fe Institute offers a free Public Lecture series from January to August 2010. Here are some public health points from the January lecture about the H1N1 virus.
The Swine Flu and You: Predicting and Controlling the H1N1 Pandemic
We're not yet out of the woods with the H1N1 flu virus. Lauren Ancel Meyers, University of Texas at Austin and Santa Fe Institute External Professor specializing in mathematical epidemiology and theoretical evolutionary biology, presented the latest findings about transmission of the H1N1 virus.
Studies show a flu epidemic often comes in waves, rising when children are in school and falling when they are on vacation. One person probably infects one or two other people. Now that school is back in session, Dr. Meyers expects another wave of H1N1 infections is likely.
Meyers recommends vaccination for people of all ages in Santa Fe and around the country. She considers vaccination an altruistic move preventing the spread of the virus while protecting individuals from suffering flu symptoms and any of its possible serious complications. Antiviral medications, Meyers noted, can reduce the severity and duration of H1N1 symptoms.
Coming Up
Lectures start at 7:30 p.m. at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe, NM.
- February 24. The Decline of Classic Maya Civilization: A Systems Perspective
- March 16. Wild and Domesticated Religions: How the Machinery of Religion Evolved
- May 5. Big Data, Global Development, and Complex Social Systems
- June 16. The Future of Terrorism
- August 18. Secrets of the Heart: The Electrocardiogram, Complex Systems Science, and Fundamental Laws of Biology
Los Alamos National Bank partially supports the series. Southwest CARE Center underwrote the January lecture.