Designing Infrastructure to Combat Disease

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) archives looking at how viruses and bacteria also take advantage of manmade infrastructure to travel and spread. People are not the only things to hop on and off buses and trains. The University College London Healthy Infrastructure Research Centre (HIRC), funded by EPSRC, is revolutionising infrastructure design, construction and function, to help fight the spread of infectious disease. On 11 June 2009, the H1N1 virus – swine flu – went pandemic and, as the 1918 Spanish flu demonstrates, flu pandemics can be devastating. Between three and six per cent of the global population are thought to have died from the Spanish flu. Research at the HIRC is investigating ways in which infrastructure can enhance or reduce disease transmission and looking for strategies to reduce risk. From tuberculosis to hospital superbugs, HIRC researchers will use the infrastructure to help stop infection before it starts. EPSRC is a part of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) partnership of research councils.