E-655: Outbreak Simulation Game

Your mission

At the beginning of February, four deaths were reported from hospitals in Smallville, Indiana as the two patients passed away within days of admition in spite of all the treatments. Since then hospitals across Indiana reported multiple deaths with similar symptoms and the comparable clinical outcomes. On admission, people complained about high fever, extreme fatigue, diarhea, vomiting and unusual rashes. The number of reported hospitalizations with similar clinical presentations are reported here. Local Public Health Departments were called to investigate if there is an outbreak and to put an end to it if it is. The notification was also sent to the CDC and the governor.

Go to dashboard
A sidewalk with stores in a small town.
Smallville, Indiana.

Image by 16081684 from Pixabay

Next steps

Step 2:

  • Do your research.
  • Explore potential reasons for these symptoms.
  • Identify the level of emergency based on the severity and timing.
  • Establish if these symptoms are caused by an infectious pathogen. Ask for more information if needed.
  • Order lab tests. Define the sets of pathogens to test for. Some of the tests may take longer to process.
Ask for additional information if needed.

Step 3:

  • If you establish that it is an outbreak, what is the most likely route of transmission?
  • Identify if there is a potential for more people being infected. If yes, how much more?

Step 4:

  • Construct working case definition
  • Decide whether contact tracing is necessary. Identify where and how to look for other potential cases if you suspect they exist.
  • Design information system that needs to be provided to you to make decisions (identify key information).
  • Initiate or maintain surveillance.

Step 5:

  • Analyze provided descriptive epidemiology.
  • Develop hypotheses.
  • Evaluate hypotheses epidemiologically.
  • Reconcile epidemiology with lab and environmental findings.

Step 6:

  • Estimate key epidemiologic parameters.
  • Conduct additional studies if necessary.
  • Evaluate and design additional control and/or prevention measures.

Step 7:

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of introduced measures.
  • Adjust measures and/or surveillance if needed.
  • Make conclusions for long-term control or other similar outbreaks.