This game is modeled on a situation that exists in the world today.

In China, the rural areas around Hong Kong work hard to satisfy that city's huge demand for ducks, chickens, pigs and other food animals. To maximize profit, farms often use a system which places birds, pigs and humans in close proximity... and which brings these animals to one of the world's largest travel hubs.

The result, just like on South Spratly Island, is a fertile breeding ground for influenza strains. The last two global pandemics of flu - the 1957 Asian strain and the 1968 Hong Kong strain - came from Asia. In 1997, a new strain of avian flu emerged in the Hong Kong area which killed almost every chicken that contracted it - and to the great fear snd amazement of virologists, jumped into the human population, killing six people. To stop it, millions of birds were slaughtered.

At least four major health organizations conduct constant vigilance against the emergence of a new deadly strain of influenza, but the possibility still exists that the world will see another Great Pandemic, like the so-called Spanish flu of 1918-1919, which will cause tens or hundreds of millions of deaths.