The Epi Info™ Story ~ 1986 Version 1

Key Events in the History of Epi Info™
  1. 1976-1986
  2. 1986 - Version 1
  3. 1987-1988 - Versions 2, 3, 4
  4. 1990-1992 - Versions 5 & 6, EpiMap, EpiTable & EpiNut
  5. 1993-1998
  6. 1998-2001 - Epi Info 2000
  7. Computers and Epi Info Historical Summary to the Third Millennium
  8. All
Related Pages
  • Timelineicon
    1986 - Version 1
    Menu for Epi Info™ Version 1

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

  • Timelineicon
    1986 - User Manual
    Screen shot of Epi Info™ version 1 analysis - the output of TABLES command

    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.

  • Timelineicon
    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.

Page last reviewed: September 16, 2022, 12:00 pm
Content source: Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology