In 2005, we started modeling pandemic influenza and presented our simulators at meetings of EMEA and the G8 Global Health Security Action Group in London. At that time many countries were engaged in developing pandemic influenza preparedness plans, but no simple tool for modeling interventions and quantifying needed resources was available.
To establish modeling compete in Europe we were funded by EU projects and the German Ministry of Health. Looking for a health care agency providing us with inside information, we began collaborating with the Baden-Württembert state Health Office in Stuttgart, Germany, and within three months completed the first version of InfluSim.
To offer the services of Influim to health care agencies all over the world we immediately declared our program as open source and made it available on our web site www.influsim.info. Shortly thereafter InfluSim received a software award from the MFG Stiftung Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
To present InfluSim around the globe we meanwhile have received invitations on numerous meetings in many countries, including Singapore, Japan and Australia. In 2006 we were also invited to teh South Korea Centers for Disease Control where InfluSim was usedto provide realistic background scenarios during a tabletop exercise.
To continue the development of InfluSim we started collaborating with the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health the same year. Joint projects included studies addressing parametric insecurity of the still unknown pathogen, the effects of school closing and the effects of prophylactic antiviral treatment of first responders.
Then InfluSim version 2.1 was released, including new features demanded by public health departments, and providing a further improved usability. The new InfluSim is available in English, German, French and Italian and user interfaces in many other european and non-European languages are currently in preparation.
