Can Quantum Mechanics Be Used to Fight Disease?

A new study claims that the spread of the flu can be contained without mass vaccinations. The method? The application of quantum mechanics to epidemiology theory.

Scientists at Michigan State University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem conducted the novel project, which argues that it is possible to significantly shorten the life span of a disease outbreak through selective inoculations.

Instead of mass vaccinations, the joint American-Israeli team claims that the administration of vaccines to different people in different time periods can keep an outbreak of the flu--or another disease--under control.

Rather than drawing from conventional epidemiology, the mathematics model for this theory is instead drawn from quantum mechanics. Two of the three scientists involved in the study are physicists.

According to Baruch Meerson of the Hebrew University, the study will help combat diseases in situations where vaccines are in short supply:

Consider an unfortunate situation when an infectious disease has spread over a population, and a certain portion of the population is sick. Most of the infected individuals recover from the disease and develop immunity to it. On the other hand, the infected individuals can spread the disease in the population through contacts with susceptible individuals.

To reduce the infection spread, one can vaccinate all possible susceptible individuals. If they are all willing to be vaccinated and there is enough vaccine for everybody, the vaccination campaign will eradicate the disease with certainty. Very often, however, a large portion of susceptible individuals refuse to be vaccinated. In addition, a vaccine can be in short supply, expensive to produce, or difficult to store.

Instead, the study suggests selective inoculations in order to drastically curtail the natural lifespan of a disease outbreak.

While physics has a long history of being used in medical studies, the Michigan-Jerusalem study is notable for being one of the first applications of quantum mechanics to conventional medicine.

[Image via Flickr user xJasonRogersx]

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