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Space Weather and Pandemic Warnings?


Affiliations
1 Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, United Kingdom
2 Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
3 Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
4 Department of Infectious Disease Control, Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China
5 The History of Chinese Science and Culture Foundation Conway Hall, London, United Kingdom
 

Medical science is not accustomed to turning to the skies for warnings of pandemics although this is precisely what our distant ancestors throughout history were prone to do. The Sun clearly plays an important role in all aspects of our lives. For instance, there have been many claims that the occurrence of pandemic influenza and other viral outbreaks is correlated with the well-known 11-year sunspot cycle1–3 although the precise mechanism for such a causative connection had remained unclear.
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  • Space Weather and Pandemic Warnings?

Abstract Views: 536  |  PDF Views: 118

Authors

N. C. Wickramasinghe
Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, United Kingdom
D. T. Wickramasinghe
Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
S. Senanayake
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
J. Qu
Department of Infectious Disease Control, Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China
G. Tokoro
The History of Chinese Science and Culture Foundation Conway Hall, London, United Kingdom
R. Temple
Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
E. J. Steele
Centre for Astrobiology, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka

Abstract


Medical science is not accustomed to turning to the skies for warnings of pandemics although this is precisely what our distant ancestors throughout history were prone to do. The Sun clearly plays an important role in all aspects of our lives. For instance, there have been many claims that the occurrence of pandemic influenza and other viral outbreaks is correlated with the well-known 11-year sunspot cycle1–3 although the precise mechanism for such a causative connection had remained unclear.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv117%2Fi10%2F1554-1554