More Fun with the Flu

I previously noted a game called Sneeze in which you try to spread a virus to as many people as possible in various environments. It appeals to my natural urge to cause trouble and behave in an antisocial fashion.

Now Healthbolt points me to The Flu Pandemic Game. This one is not a computer game, like Sneeze, but a pencil-and-paper role playing game, with dice. As a longtime tabletop gamer, I love it!

It has a serious purpose, having been "designed as a training resource for [Camden Primary Care Trust] staff and to help managers of local businesses and voluntary organisations develop their business continuity plans." Rather than trying to spread illness, in this game you're trying to keep things going while the flu spreads. Less antisocial, but one can't always play the trouble-maker.

You can download a free PDF of the game in two versions, one for GPs and one for healthcare and related organisations. Yes, I meant to use that spelling, it's from the UK. Also, you must provide your own dice, pencils and paper.

Healthbolt calls the game "a unique, even bizarre, way to combat" the flu, but despite being a gamer geek I won't take offense to this categorization, merely note that games are actually good for all kinds of things in addition to having fun, and have long been considered for application to various health projects.

Don't forget Outbreak at Watersedge, which lets you play through epidemiology concepts and which I mentioned years ago!*

And here's a whole site on Public Health Games, here's Games for Health (which holds a conference), here are some posts on AIDS-related games, here's The Great Flu. I could probably find a bunch more with a bit more searching. I know I've seen surgery games that were supposed to be educational, and there are undoubtedly others.

Games are good! And the gaming in libraries trend is not just for public libraries. Maybe we should have game night at my work.

*Though on another, now lost blog, the late lamented Creature From the Health Librarianship Class. I miss the Creature! Speaking of which, I was once told that it was just dormant on the UA server and would one day be visible again so I could at least link to it, but I think that's a vain hope now. It reminds me, yet again, that backing up is good to do. Not that I ever heed these reminders: if Blogger goes down, Wretched Oddments is just as lost.

Pandemic Alert

So the WHO has declared the start of an influenza pandemic.

H1N1 is not quitting.

Genetics and Health passed along the news, along with some graphics and tips about how to avoid getting (or how to recover from) the flu.

Hunting Flu

Practically everyone has been noticing Google's Flu Trends, but I saw it on David Rothman's page first, so he gets my credit. Save that up for exciting prizes!*

It's an interesting project, based on the idea that if a lot of people in a certain region are running searches on flu-related topics, a fair number of people in that area probably actually have the flu.

The site charts flu activity for the entire country, or state by state (it's currently low both nationwide and in my state), and you can mouse over a nice map that's color coded to indicate where things are busiest. Nothing's very busy right now---the whole map is a soothing blue. 

It looks like Texas is the place to be, with 'minimal' flu activity, which is the lowest level. I have my plane ticket! Though unfortunately not until late December, by which time things could have changed.

There's also a handy link to the CDC's site, as well as a flu shot locator and recent 'flu in the news' stories.

The site says it can estimate flu activity in an area "up to two weeks faster than traditional systems." Fascinating!

I'm immediately curious whether this would work with other ailments as well. Obviously not every illness lends itself to the kind of on-the-spot searching that would allow for tracking of trends, but might there be some others for which it could apply? 

I'm sure that will be forthcoming as soon as the Google folks figure it out.

*Prizes not specified, guaranteed, or probable. But all the more exciting for that!