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Pandemic Flu Simulations Model Outbreak

A team of scientists used three different computer models to examine how a pandemic influenza outbreak might travel through a city similar in size to Chicago. What can simulations of a flu outbreak teach us about how to better respond to a real-world pandemic?

The models examined different possible responses — from issuing antiviral treatments to closing down schools — to determine their effects on the spread of a hypothetical flu outbreak. Elizabeth Halloran, professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington, talks about what the researchers found.

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