National Institutes of Health Office of Science Education

Using a Computer Model: Try It Yourself!

Pick one of the diseases on the left and enter the values from the table into the model. Click “Day-by-Day” or “Autorun” to see how the disease spreads through the population. Vary the “Initial % immunity” value to see how it affects disease transmission.

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Accessible Activities

Run the model for each disease.

Leave the initial % immunity level at “0.”

Use this table to set other values.

Smallpox
Virulence: high (0.25)
Duration: 14 days
Rate: high (2.5)
Polio
Virulence: low (0.01)
Duration: 18 days
Rate: average (1.0)
Measles
Virulence: low (0.01)
Duration: 8 days
Rate: very high (10.0)
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