The sharp drop in air travel after the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 holds a lesson that could help thwart a future flu pandemic or even a bioterror attack.
Some 1.7 million fewer international passengers travelled to and from the US during September 2001- a drop of 27 per cent. This may have slowed flu transmission, delaying the onset of the 2001-2002 US flu season by two weeks.
The findings, which relate to ordinary flu, differ from computer models that suggested it would take a 99 per cent reduction in air travel to achieve this length of…
