The Science of an Infected Age

When reading this week's book, "Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age" by Duncan Watts, I couldn't stop thinking about the Swine Flu epidemic. Watts discusses networks, how they are organized, how to use them, and how they effect our lives. One of the many ways in which networks effect us is by spreading things: trends, ideas, information, and even diseases. The more connected a person is, the more access/ influence they have to/on the world.  But being highly connected also has its drawbacks.

This has been made very apparent with the Swine Flu outbreak. The group that has been effected by the outbreak the most is people in schools, whether they work at or go to them, this group seems to be the most likely to get the disease. Not just because children are susceptible to disease, (As it turns out, everyone is likely to get it, but interestingly people over 65 are less at risk, possibly since they survived a previous outbreak.), but because they are in contact with a large number of people (who may not have the best hygiene) every day. As you may have noticed, the epidemic went mostly into remission over the summer, while school was not in session, but as soon as classes started again, here came Swine Flu all over again. 

But not just school people have gotten the flu. Some people who have not seen the inside of a school building in years still manage to get it. This is where networks come into play. For example, little boy gets Swine Flu from someone in his class, then comes home and infects his dad, who goes to work and infects someone there, who goes to worship and infects someone there, etc. Pretty soon the disease has spread to people who have never even heard of the original little boy, but they are connected to him, though the chain of disease. Not a pretty story for sure, but it does illustrate the chain of connections through network. 

By now almost all of us at least know someone who has had swine flu, if we haven't had it ourselves (knock on wood). A year ago, we have never even heard of it, 

and feared the "looming" Bird Flu pandemic. The high level of contagiousness of this disease made the "slow growth phase" pretty much non-existent, and pretty much just skipped straight to the "explosive phase (p.172)." Luckily, unlike his example of *shudder* the Ebola virus, the Swine Flu does not guarantee death, but because of this, it does not reach the "burn out" phase quite as fast.  If God forbid, something like the Ebola virus did break out in the United States, or any highly populated area, it could be devastating, like the plague, but faster. According to Watts, the only people who are "safe" from an outbreak are those who have been "removed", either by recovery, inoculation, or death (p. 168). 

So what do you do to control the disease? UT Dallas has this advise on the Student Health Center website:

Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
  
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
  
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
  
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
  
• CDC recommends that people with influenza-like illness remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (100° F [37.8°C]), or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medication

Once you have contracted a virus best way to protect yourself and others is to cut yourself off from your network.  This is also true for computer viruses. Once a computer is infected with a virus, it should be cut off from the network until the virus has been eliminated. 

But what about the massive power outages or factory breakdowns Watts discusses? In the situation of the power outages, cutting off "infected" areas by the automatic breaker system, which was supposed to protect the system actually ended up making the situation worse, by rerouting power to other branches of the system and overwhelming them to the point of overload and meltdown. Sometimes cutting off a problem area in a network is like cutting off your nose to spite your face...it does more harm than good. 

The networks in our lives are very powerful, but also very fragile tools. The same chain or group of people that can help you get a new job or introduce you to your future spouse can also spread hurtful gossip or expose you to the swine flu. So wash your hands and be careful who you defriend, you never know how it can affect you down the line.