BRAKE the OUTBREAK: a free online simulation helps students learn about vaccination, social distancing, R, and herd immunity.

Abstract

Brake the Outbreak (BTO) is a free, online simulation of infectious outbreaks designed for educational use. A student using the simulation chooses a disease, vaccination percentage, social distancing rates, and other inputs. BTO then visually displays the resulting outbreak as it proceeds, including summary data, such as incidence and prevalence. BTO also shows emergent results like reproductive rate (R), which can be used to determine and test the herd immunity threshold (HIT) of the outbreak. BTO has been tested in the undergraduate microbiology classroom, where results suggest its use can enhance the learning of epidemiological content.