Highlights of ways in which Harvard School of Public Health faculty and researchers are contributing to global flu control efforts.

The Harvard School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness is closely monitoring the latest news on swine influenza A (H1N1) and has an information page with helpful links.

Harvard University Health Services provides questions and answers about the flu. The HSPH community can find helpful information on the School's flu preparedness page.

A new center that will focus on mathematical modeling of drug resistance, seasonal infectious diseases, and intervention allocation will be established at the HSPH. The Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics will be funded through the National Institutes of Health's Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS), and will be led by Prof. Marc Lipsitch (right). 

In a story on swine flu research at Harvard, the Harvard Crimson (Sept. 25, 2009) discussed the Center's research with Lipsitch and HSPH colleagues Edward Goldstein, Justin O'Hagan, Marcello Pagano. 

As many as 5.7 million people in the U.S. may have been infected with H1N1 earlier this year, according to an October 2009 CDC report authored by Lipsitch and CDC researchers. Read the Bloomberg story.

Prof. Marie McCormick (right) has been appointed head of a new working group of independent health experts who are monitoring the safety of the H1N1 vaccine. Read the story from AP and watch a clip from ABC News.

Prof. Robert Blendon, director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program at HSPH, has directed five national surveys that look at H1N1 and its ramifications. A November 6, 2009 survey examined the American public's response to the H1N1 vaccine shortage. 

Four prior surveys looked at Americans' perceptions of the H1N1 flu and one surveyed businesses:

October 2: This survey looked at whether Americans would or would not get the H1N1 vaccine.

September 9: This survey looked at how prepared businesses are if there's an outbreak of H1NI flu. 

July 15: This survey focused on Americans' views and concerns about the potential for a more severe outbreak of H1N1 in the fall or winter.

May 8: This survey found that many Americans have taken steps to protect themselves and their families against the disease.

May 1: This survey looked at how concerned Americans are about the outbreak, how they are responding and what they believe about transmission, prevention and treatment.

Prof. Marc Lipsitch was noted in Bloomberg coverage of a CDC study on swine flu prevalence in the U.S. from April to June 2009 (Oct. 29, 2009) and he spoke with NPR about H1N1 vaccine shortages (Oct. 26, 2009). Prof. Robert Blendon was quoted in The New York Times about the vaccine shortage as a poltical test for Obama (Oct. 29, 2009) and he talked with NPR about how the public views the vaccine (Oct. 17, 2009). The Harvard Gazette (Oct. 1, 2009) wrote about Lipsitch's role as a federal H1N1 adviser. Lipsitch discussed the difficulty of forecasting the range and lethality of H1N1 with The Boston Globe (Sept. 28, 2009), the H1N1 flu death rate with Reuters (Sept. 16, 2009) and the H1N1 flu vaccine supply with The New York Times (Sept. 11, 2009).

Gillian SteelFisher talked with WBZ-TV about how prepared businesses are for an H1N1 outbreak (Sept. 9, 2009). Lipsitch helped author a report on the U.S. government's preparations for the H1N1 flu (Aug. 24, 2009) and spoke about the report with The New York Times (Aug. 25, 2009). He co-authored an article in NEJM about managing uncertainty in an emerging influenza pandemic (July 29, 2009) and spoke about past pandemics with The Boston Globe (April 28, 2009).

Prof. Barry Bloom talked about China's swine flu vaccine with Forbes (Sept. 8, 2009) and prior flu pandemics with Bloomberg (April 28, 2009).

HSPH Dean Julio Frenk wrote an op-ed in The New York Times titled "Mexico's Fast Diagnosis," (April 30, 2009) and also talked to The Washington Post about Mexico's response (May 11, 2009). 

Read the Harvard Public Health NOW story on how HSPH researchers are contributing to global control efforts (May 15, 2009). 

Dean Julio Frenk spoke about health reform in an era of pandemics at the Commonwealth Club of California (Sept. 30, 2009) and delivered a talk on the H1N1 pandemic and global health security at HSPH (Sept. 16, 2009).

HSPH hosted a panel discussion about the H1N1 outbreak in May 2009. Speakers included Barry R. Bloom, Paul Biddinger, Jennifer Leaning, Michael Stoto and K. Vish Viswanath from HSPH, and David Rosenthal from Harvard University Health Services. View the highlights video and read the Harvard Public Health NOW story.

photos: (health care worker) iStockphoto/zilli