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How does finding a cure affect future infections in Pandemic?

Scenario 1) Cure IS found, disease cubes for that same color DO exist on the board, and player draws an infection card matching that color.

Scenario 2) Cure IS found, disease cubes for that same color do NOT exist on the board, and player draws an infection card matching that color.

My current understanding is that scenario 2 would be the only time that the disease cubes would not be added to the location (excluding special player roles like quarantine specialist and event cards).

Is this correct?

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Scenario 1: continue adding cubes, as you have been doing all the way along. The example of "Playing the Infector" specifically states: "Even though the Black disease is Cured, it can still spread!")

Scenario 2: nothing happens. The rules state:

Eradicating a Disease

If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, flip the Cure Marker for the disease to the "Sunset" side. From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the Infector's turn (emphasis mine -- StasK). Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and place them back in the box -- they will not be used again for the rest of the game.

So finding a cure affects the game via the change in how "Treat Disease" action is played.

  1. The Medic character starts treating the disease without spending an action: if say the red vaccine has been discovered, whenever the Medic is in the city with these red cubes, he or she can take them out without spending an action. This also means that the Dispatcher (or the Airlift special event) can throw the Medic into a red city that is about to outbreak, and the city will be cured with no other actions spent by any of the players.
  2. All other players can remove all of the cubes in one action (rather than just one cube) when they treat disease in a city.

In the longer term, discovering the cure makes you one step closer to the victory -- you need to discover all four cures to win the game. The Infection step, however, is not affected by the discovery per se -- only by eradication.

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  • " The Infection step, however, is not affected by the discovery per se -- only by eradication." Couldn't that have been said with just the rules quote, without all the need for inconsequential Medic, Dispatcher, and treatment action changes that have no effect on future infection?
    – user1873
    Commented Feb 18, 2013 at 20:35
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    This. The succinct distinction is between a disease that has been Cured, and one that has been Eradicated. You can Cure a disease without Eradicating it, but you must Cure a disease to Eradicate it by removing all cubes.
    – KeithS
    Commented Feb 20, 2013 at 18:32

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