Flu Risk

Study suggests popular people get flu first.
The CBS Evening News (9/15, story 9, 0:35, Couric) reported, "A new study says that if you're popular, it's especially important to be vaccinated. Researchers found that popular people with lots of friends are more likely to be exposed to the flu and pass it on."
CNN (9/16, Harding) reports that a study in the journal PLoS ONE found that "when the flu is going around, people at the center of social networks...come down with the virus about two weeks earlier than a randomly selected group of people." The researchers suggest that "monitoring the health of these socially connected people could serve as an early warning system for flu epidemics and outbreaks of other infectious diseases."
The "White Coat Notes" blog of the Boston Globe (9/15, Cooney) reported that study authors Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard and his research collaborator James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, "were not tracking the actual path of infections," but "think that people with more friends are more likely to be out among other people, increasing their chances of catching the flu from friends or strangers." The two previously "analyzed social networks and how smoking or obesity can be 'contagious,' flowing through a web of social contacts." The Wall Street Journal (9/15, Hobson) "Health Blog" and HealthDay (9/15, Preidt) also covered this study.