[Repost] IPhone App Wipes Out Population to Show Contagion Risks

From the 11 November 2013 Bloomberg article

The plague started in Indonesia. A viral infection, it spread quietly at first, making its way from person to person with coughing and sneezing its only symptoms. Then someone infected with the virus got on a plane.

As the disease spread around the globe, fever gave way to sweating, nausea, vomiting. Hundreds infected turned to thousands. The virus developed drug resistance. Thousands became millions.

It was all part of Ian Lipkin’s plan.

The Columbia University virus hunter wasn’t using his decades of experience researching infectious disease for evil. He was playing Plague Inc., a game for iPhone, iPad and Android. With more than 15 million downloads since its release last year, Plague Inc. has captured the attention of gamers and public health officials alike. The latter see it as a tool for raising awareness of the real-world risk of pandemics at a time when public funding for medical research is under pressure.

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Read entire article here

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