New Study Finds Community Measures Prevent Deaths During Pandemic

August 7, 2007 -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today that school closures and other community strategies designed to reduce the possibility of spreading disease between people during an epidemic can save lives, particularly when the measures are used in combination and implemented soon after an outbreak begins in a community, according to a new study based on public records from the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic.

The findings, which are published in the Aug. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, provide vital clues to help public officials planning for the next influenza pandemic and highlight the importance of community strategies. Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of Michigan Medical School's Center for the History of Medicine completed an exhaustive review of public records such as health department reports, U.S. Census mortality data and newspaper archives.

The JAMA study evaluated public health measures such as school closures and cancellation of public events, which 43 American cities took during the 1918 pandemic. The researchers sought to determine whether the timing, duration and combination of such measures impacted the city's death rate during the pandemic. To determine the public health measures' effectiveness, the researchers analyzed each city's excess death rate - the number of pneumonia and influenza deaths in excess of the amount expected for the time period.

During a 24-week period in 1918-1919, more than 115,000 excess pneumonia and influenza deaths in the 43 cities were attributed to the pandemic. Cities that began interventions earlier had more success in decreasing excess deaths than those that implemented the measures later, regardless of how long the later interventions were in place or how they were executed.