Can virtual diseases model real-life epidemics?

kevinatilusa writes: The Associated Press reports on a study published by Nina Fefferman and Eric Lofgren in the Lancet. The article suggests that the 2005 Corrupted Blood epidemic in World of Warcraft could be useful as a model of the human factors (including the aptly named "stupid factor") often missed in theoretical models of the next big outbreak. Fefferman suggests that in the future online games might be useful to "provide a population where controlled outbreak simulations may be done seamlessly within the player experience".