Dutch researchers have developed a video game which allows players to try to combat the swine flu epidemic.

The Great Flu was designed by Albert Osterhaus and colleagues at Erasmus University in Rotterdam to help the public learn about how the virus spreads.
‘It is actually what is happening now, what is happening in the real world,’ Osterhaus told news agency AP.
To fight the outbreak, players set up surveillance systems, stockpile antiviral drugs and vaccines, and close schools and airports, AP says. Players are also warned that ‘your actions to control the virus cost money, so keep an eye on it’.
The game is available free online from www.thegreatflu.com.