Multidisciplinary InvesTIGAtion of Transmission to Ease inFLUenza (MITIGATE-FLU)
Starting in 2022, MITIGATE FLU is a multi-site collaboration funded by FluLab, between Virginia Tech, University of Michigan Schools of Public Health, Engineering, and Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Emory University and Georgetown University. The overall goals of this research are to determine how behavioral and environmental factors affect transmission and to identify the most effective interventions for reducing transmission in child care and school settings. Dr. Emily Martin and Dr. Andrew Hashikawa will lead Project 3 of this initiative, integrating epidemiological analyses and detection studies to build the understanding of influenza transmission in child care settings, a high transmission environment where the contributions of host and environmental drivers can be measured in detail. This project has three main aims:
- Define epidemiological patterns of influenza transmission in child care centers.
- Map the presence and quantity of influenza virus detected in the child care environment.
- Evaluate non-pharmaceutical interventions on the presence of virus in the air and on surfaces and models projected impact on 1) absenteeism rates and 2) laboratory confirmed acute respiratory viral illness.
See the MITIGATE FLU website for more details about this multi-site collaboration. Contact us at [email protected] if you have questions about our local efforts.