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The Epi Info™ Story

The Epi Info™ Story

The Epi Info™ Story ~ 1986 Version 1

  • 1986 - Version 1

    Menu of the first version of Epi Info™, implemented as a DOS batch file.

  • 1986 - User Manual

    A 27-page manual was added in February 1986 and the "Programs for Automatic File Definition, Data Entry, and Tabulation" were now called Epi Info™. 

    Distribution was informal; anyone who wanted the programs was given a photocopy of the manual and a 5 1/4 inch floppy diskette.

  • 1986 - 1st Field Trial

    The first field trial of Epi Info™ and its companion "artificial intelligence" system, Epiaid, was conducted in the investigation of a syphilis epidemic in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by Dr. Consuelo Beck-Sagué, then an EIS Officer.

    Picture of Dr. Consuelo Beck-Sagué

    The idea of high-level computer assistance in planning an investigation never caught on, and the technology of the time did not make the Epiaid programs easy to use. 

    Epi Info™, with its practical tools for constructing questionnaires and entering and analyzing data, became ever more popular over the next few years.

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