Contagion presented a hypothetical situation in which a modern epidemic occurred. The movie tracks the spread and attempts to curb the spread of an extremely infectious virus that plagues North America and Asia. The CDC's main concern is to try and educate the populous to try and slow down the rate of incidence. Scientists desperately try and create a vaccine to combat the virus but nearly all subjects die upon its injection, to the point where they are ordered to destroy all the stored viruses and subjects. Only after ignoring the order to destroy samples and continuing to work do scientists come up with a vaccine, but without any proper means to test its efficacy on humans, Dr. Hextall injects it into herself. The vaccine is a success, but the distribution process is long and painstaking, based on a lottery of birth dates. The virus itself originated from a bat whose food was eaten by a pig, which was then slaughtered by a butcher who did not wash his hands before shaking the hands of the protagonist's wife, thus beginning the epidemic.
Outbreak is the occurrence of a disease in much greater numbers and far shorter time period than would be considered normal. This is caused in the movie by the rapid development and reportage of cases of the illness after the virus' exposure to the population. Several steps that are involved in outbreak investigation are shown in the film, such as defining the disease as an actual threat, tracing it fact to its first victim, and acquiring virus samples to study the disease's progression and how to create a vaccine. Isolation is shown in the sports stadium, which all ill persons are kept. Quarantine is shown when officials lock away the first victim's husband, as he was exposed to the virus but did not show any signs of illness.
There were several things that could have been done to properly tackle the spread of the pathogen before it got out of hand. The communication of the shear scope of the outbreak was really kept from the public, which realistically would have stopped a panic, but also didn't allow people to take the virus as seriously as the should have. Another problem was cooperation across agencies. Funding was a constant roadblock for CDC operations, such as creating an isolation unit within the sporting center. A major issue with the movie was the degeneration of civilization as time wore on. People looted and murdered without any consequence and there was really no authority present to keep order. This only exasperated the social issues going on.
Very good summary paragraph. My favorite part is the end paragraph... Even though the military was present, there was still terrible crimes happening because of lack of law and order. Do you think this is what would happen in real life? I think this film depicted the whole human race as monsters, but in reality only a few would cause the problems. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI like your blog. You exhibit an understanding of the concepts required for this assignment. Your summary was spot on.
ReplyDeleteI would like to bring your attention to question 2. While you correctly defined an outbreak and related it to the movie, this format wasn't followed for the other 3 concepts.
You related the concepts correctly to the movie but did not explain them. The question required that you explain the concepts and relate them to the movie.
To make sure that you do understand these concepts, I am reiterating their definitions here:
An outbreak investigation involves a clearly defined set of epidemiologic steps followed in investigating an outbreak. The complete list of these steps is outlined in your class lecture notes. please review these.
Isolation refers to the separation of the sick from the healthy while quarantine refers to the separation of persons exposed to a communicable disease from the unexposed.
In question 3, the issues you raise are important. For your first observation about the communication of the scope of the outbreak being kept away from the public- would you as a public health official want to let the public know all the details as they occur? In a situation like this, reassurance of the public is very important. You have to think about what may seem like too much information to them in a crisis. Would it help or create more anxiety?
Other issues to think about include the issue of risk communication. In the movie, Dr. Cheever was not the right choice for a spokes person for the CDC since he had done something untrustworthy. In hospitals, there may be insufficient facilities for isolation given the increased number of cases. Other issues that can come up include problems with public services like trash removal and an increase in crime sprees(which you identified).