CDC Turns from Zombies to ‘Outbreak’ with iPad App - East Idaho News

CDC Turns from Zombies to ‘Outbreak’ with iPad App

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Getty B 011912 iPadHands?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1361379340705David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the folks who brought the world a controversial zombie apocalypse campaign, has launched a free iPad app that lets users play a game to stem a fictitious epidemic.

Users of the app, called “Solve the Outbreak,” can pretend they’re a public health detective by taking steps such as quarantining a village, asking for more lab results and interviewing sick people.  Good problem-solving skills are rewarded by high points and badges.

“We look at this as an engaging opportunity to educate young people to how public health actually works, and hopefully to draw some future epidemiologists,” CDC spokesman Alex Casanova told ABC News.

The app was developed in-house and cost $110,000 to develop, minus salaries, and so far it’s been downloaded about 2,000 times, he said.  The goal is to get between 15,000 and 25,000 downloads in a year.

The game is the CDC’s latest attempt to use pop culture to entice the public to prepare for a major outbreak.  In May 2011, the CDC unveiled a zombie-themed campaign, which included downloadable zombie-themed posters and a novella called “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic.”

The agency called the campaign “tongue-in-cheek,” but later, after a string of grisly violent incidents, the CDC had to make an official statement saying there’s no evidence of a coming zombie apocalypse.

An agency official told ABC News in September that the zombie idea came after Twitter users responded to the agency’s question about what type of disasters they were prepared for.

“It can be tough to get people thinking about emergency preparedness before disaster strikes.  We’ve created these zombie posters to spark some attention and get people involved before it’s too late,” the CDC said in a statement at the time.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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