The CDC’s Solve The Outbreak App

 

  

# 6918

 

The disease detectives at the CDC are the investigators at the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS).  EIS officers conduct epidemiologic investigations, research, and public health surveillance both in the United States and around the world.

 

Maryn McKenna’s 2004 book, Beating Back The Devil, provided a fascinating inside look at their operations, and is well worth digging up a copy.

 

A couple of days ago the CDC released an iPad app called Solve the Outbreak which lets you take on the role of a an EIS trainee, and conduct your own disease outbreak investigations.

 

Do you want to be a disease detective?

This application will allow you to interact with and solve a disease outbreak. You will think like an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). Each outbreak will include a series of clues that will ask you to guess the cause of the outbreak along the way, earning points for each answer. At the end of the outbreak, you will be awarded a badge based on your efforts: Trainee, Apprentice, Investigator, and the highest award, Disease Detective. The app provides a game-like interface and works to incorporate tips and definitions along the way, to make learning about epidemiology fun. Outbreaks may be fictional or based of a real event that CDC employees have worked on.

Check out these fun features:

• Learn more about the work CDC does.
• Solve mysterious outbreaks the EIS way.
• Increase your knowledge of diseases and outbreaks.
• A fun interactive way to learn about epidemiology.
• Share your success at solving outbreaks on Facebook or Twitter.
• Review data and epi-curves outlining how the outbreak spread.
• Work quickly and save lives.

Download it free today

 

 

I downloaded this app yesterday and spent a few minutes with it this morning, running through the first outbreak scenario (three are included).

 

While game play is limited (I ran thru the first scenario - undoubtedly the easiest - in about 10 minutes), this app does a nice job of illustrating the thought processes and epidemiological techniques used in outbreak investigations. 

 

There are short tutorials included, a glossary, and links to additional information available online from the CDC.

 

All of which makes this both a fun and educational app for anyone with an interest in epidemiology. Its biggest shortcoming is only having three outbreak puzzles to solve, but perhaps if it proves a popular download, they’ll release an update with more.

 

NOTE: Upon further review (I finished all three scenarios) the app indicates that additional outbreaks will be released.

IOM Book On Infectious Disease

 

 

 

# 5248

 

 

I’ve mentioned the IOM (Institute of Medicine) a number of times in the past, and have directed my readers to the National Academies Press for scientific reports, and books that may be purchased, viewed online - or in many cases - downloaded for free.

 

If you have a scientific bent at all, you owe it to yourself to visit http://www.nap.edu/ to peruse the more than 3,000 titles available.

 

Today I’d like to call your attention to a recently published (2010) 44-page booklet, authored by the Institute of Medicine and geared for general audiences, on infectious diseases.

 

 

The National Academies Press describes it this way:

 

About a quarter of deaths worldwide--many of them children--are caused by infectious organisms. The World Health Organization reports that new infectious diseases are continuing to emerge and familiar ones are appearing in new locations around the globe. What's behind this trend? How can invisible organisms cause such harm? And to what extent has human behavior amplified the problem?

What You Need to Know About Infectious Disease provides an overview of infectious disease, drawing on reports of the Institute of Medicine. Written for a general audience, it describes the biology, history, and future trends of some of the world's most widespread and harmful infections and explains what we need to do--as individuals and as a society--to address this global challenge.

 

 

In order to download this book, you’ll have to provide your name and a valid email address, but it is otherwise free.

 

This book provides a relatively painless introduction to the world of emerging infectious diseases - particularly for students and the lay public - as it never burdens the reader with too much scientific detail. 

 

It does, however, cover most of the major bases (how diseases work, major disease threats, global challenges, prevention & treatment), and is nicely complemented by a variety of graphics and pictures.

 

My thanks to Laidback Al on FluTrackers for posting this link.

Cambodia: Promoting Bird Flu Awareness

 

# 4690

 

 

 

Just a few years ago, for many villagers in places like Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, it would have been unthinkable to believe that their chickens could make them sick.   

 

Families had raised these birds for generations without ill effect, and so convincing them that H5N1 is a threat isn’t easy.  

 

In 2007 the NGO CARE conducted a poll in Cambodia to gauge perceptions among villagers about the dangers of bird flu, and recently re-polled to see if these perceptions had changed in three years.

 

While progress has been made, more than 20% of respondents would still kill and eat a sick chicken.

 

A hat tip to RoRo on FluTrackers for this report from the Phnom Penh Post.

 

 

Project seeks H5N1 awareness

Thursday, 01 July 2010 15:00 Khoun Leakhana

POULTRY farmers in three border provinces exhibited improved awareness of avian influenza following the introduction of a village-based education project, though in some areas more than 20 percent still say they would eat an animal found to be infected with the disease, according to survey results released this week.

 

The survey was conducted in three provinces – Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Koh Kong – as part of a programme led by the NGO CARE International. Overall, it found that the farmers benefited from education efforts implemented by Village Surveillance Teams, or VSTs.

 

In 2007, farmers were interviewed in order to assess their understanding of the A(H5N1) influenza virus, commonly known as bird flu. In particular, the initial interviews assessed the farmers’ knowledge of how the virus spreads to humans and how diseased poultry should be disposed of.

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THEY’RE NOT ONLY PROTECTING THE BIRDS. THEY’RE PROTECTING THEIR OWN FAMILIES.

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When they were interviewed again at the end of a three-year pilot programme in 2009, the farmers demonstrated that they were better equipped to deal with avian flu cases.

 

In villages in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng, for example, the number of respondents who said they would kill and eat a bird if they were to find it sick was nearly halved, from 43 to 23 percent, according to the survey.

 

“We saw that there was a behaviour change,” said Cecilia Dy, CARE’s avian influenza project coordinator.

 

(Continue . . .)

 

 

While they don’t get a lot of publicity, health education campaigns such as these by NGO’s like  CARE, SAVE THE CHILDREN, Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness H2P  and others are taking place in remote regions all around the world.

 

These projects not only help to protect the people living in those countries, but they also help protect the world.

 

Every time a virus like H5N1 is denied a human host, it is also denied another opportunity to mutate and adapt to humans.

 

Something worth considering the next time you think about where your charitable contributions will go this year.

Spreading The Message, Not The Flu

 

 

# 3765

 

 

 

About two-weeks ago I wrote an essay called `Being A Sneeze Guard’, where I recounted my encounter at a local grocery store checkout line with a sneezing, coughing, and unrepentant cashier. 

 

I suggested that we should all become proactive in educating those we come upon during this flu season who seem oblivious to their own spreading of the virus. 

 

That essay caught the eye of a reporter – Rebecca Nappi – for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, who emailed me and later that day we ended up doing about a 30 minute telephone interview.

 

The end result is that Rebecca was able to build on my essay, interview some local folks, and put together a very nice article for her paper on coughing and sneezing etiquette.

 

Experts offer advice for keeping germs at bay during cold-and-flu season

 

Thanks Becky,  it was a pleasure talking with you, and I hope you get great  feedback on your story.