Epidemiology: Analysis and Reflection of the Movie “Contagion”

1. What country did the disease originate in? What two types of animals did this virus
develop in before it made the jump to infecting humans? Who was the first person
infected?
-The disease originated in Hong Kong, China. The two types of animals the virus
develop in were a bat and a pig. The first person the virus infected was Beth Emoff.

2. What type of infectious agent was this, and what was its specific name?
-The type of this infectious agent is a paramyxovirus. Its specific name is MEH-1
standing for Meningoencephalittis.

3. What are fomites, and which character in the movie explained how fomites can be

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involved in the transmission of infectious disease?

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-Dr. Mears explained fomites in the movie. Fomites are pathogens that are spread

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through contact with surfaces. These agents can survive on inanimate objects until a

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living organism comes and picks it up. It is any object capable of transmitting the disease

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from surfaces or people.
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4. What is the difference between a sign and a symptom of disease? What are the signs and
symptoms of the disease featured in this movie?
-A sign is objective evidence of a disease, it can be seen. A symptom is subjective
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evidence of a disease; it is a feeling people other than the patient cannot see/feel it, only
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the patient/person can detect it. The signs and symptoms in the movie are seizures, blurry
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vision, foaming at the mouth, fever, and coughing.

5. How long did it take a person infected with this disease to develop symptoms? About
how long from time of exposure to death? What was the average number of people that
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an infected person would directly transmit the infection to? Would you consider this
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transmission to be an endemic, epidemic, or pandemic?

-The person infected with the disease, developed symptoms within 12-24 hours
and within 48-72 hours from exposure to the time of death. The average number of
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people that an infected person would directly transmit the infection to was 4. I would
consider it to be pandemic on the world scale.
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6. Why was the blogger Alan Krumwiede (played by Jude Law) considered such a threat?
At best he believed he was helping the public, at worst, he was just trying to make money
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by exploiting the situation. Regardless, his actions were making things worse. Explain
how.
-Blogger Alan Krumwiede was considered a threat because he was also an
opportunist and conspiracy theorist that had millions of followers. He used his blog to
manipulate his viewers to not participate in the solution of the pandemic. His actions only
made matters worse because it spreads fear. Although they are conspiracies, sometimes

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 just a little of proof and fear can cause distrust with the government. In times like this,
cooperation and trust is required to get things done. Just the fact that he told people
Forsythia work made people killed each other to get the cure. It caused panic in society.

7. Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), a World Health Organization epidemiologist,

was kidnapped. Why? Did the kidnappers get what they wanted? Explain.
-Dr. Orantes was kidnapped by Feng because his village was dying so he wanted
to ransom her for the vaccine. They did get what they wanted; however, it was a placebo.
The Chinese government told the contact to because they did not cater to terrorists. The
villagers were trying to save what was left of the village, which were the children.

8. Dr. Erin Mears, played by Kate Winslet, was an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer
from the CDC. She performed a similar role in investigating the disease as did Dr.
Ornates. Their jobs and their investigations in this movie can be compared to the work of
what historical figure covered in the History of Microbiology lecture?

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- I think the work of Dr. Erin Mears and Dr. Ornates can be compared to the work

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of Edward Jenner, because they were on a mission to try and find a way to help the

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people from the disease. Jenner found a vaccine to help the people suffering from small

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pox through cow pox and although Dr. Erin Mears and Dr. Ornates did not find a cure,

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they provided valuable information to the scientists at the CDC. Dr. Mears was able to
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find the signs and symptoms of the disease and the observe the rate of the spread of the
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disease and Dr. Ornates found the source of the disease and how it first spread.

9. Dr. Ellis Cheever (played by Lawrence Fishburne) was a medical official with the
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What did he get in trouble for doing, and
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why?
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-Dr. Cheever got in trouble because he called his wife, Aubrey, about Chicago and
the classified government information about the outbreak and told her to get out and go to
Atlanta, where he was. However, she told a friend of hers and the friend posted it online.
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He was not supposed to leak confidential information to even loved ones before the
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populace.

10. Before a vaccine can be developed, researchers need to find a way to grow the infectious
agent in a laboratory. The problem with this microbe was that it quickly killed any in
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vitro cells the researchers infected. What type of cell do researchers eventually find that
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allows them to successfully grow the microbe in the lab?

-The researchers used white blood cells called macrophage to grow the microbe in
the lab.
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11. Dr. Ally Hextall (played by Jennifer Ehle) was the main character working on
development of a vaccine. She eventually injected herself with one of the experimental
vaccines she developed. She then went to visit her father who was sick. In doing so, she
purposely exposed herself to the illness. While visiting her father, they discussed the
parallels between what she had just done and the work of Dr. Barry Marshall. Who was

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 Barry Marshall, and in what way was his scientific work similar to that of the fictional
Dr. Hextall?
-Barry Marshall is an Australian physician who made the historic scientific
discovery, which stated the presence of bacterium Helicobacter pylori as the root cause
for most peptic ulcers. He disproved the belief that stress cases ulcers. His work was
similar to that of Dr. Hextall because he ingested turbid, foul-tasting solution of
Helicobacter pylori into his body. A week later, symptoms began to emerge and his
stomach lining showed inflammation through an autopsy. Dr. Hextall found a vaccine that
worked in animal testing that she performed and to speed up the process, she tested the
vaccine on herself.

12. Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) ingested Forsythia when he began feeling ill, and he
ultimately did not get the disease. Why can one not conclude that the Forsythia prevented
Alan from developing the disease? Please give a detailed response. There are several
reasons why we cannot conclude that Forsythia cured him.

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-We cannot conclude that Forsythia prevented Allen from developing the disease

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because of a few factors.. Allen had no antibodies in his system. He could of thought he

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had the disease, which made him take Forsythia. However, he wasn’t sick, yet he thinks
that it cured him. Forsythia may be used to treat some of the symptoms of this disease,

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but it does not treat all. There is no way in telling how the Forsythia affected him without
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a blood sample, adding the virus, then adding the Forsythia and observing it.

13. Read this article: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/10 /new-swine-virus-

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spreading-us-originated-china. Write a short paragraph comparing and contrasting the

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movie and in the article.

- There were several similarities between the swine flu in the article to the virus
in the movie. They both developed in pigs and originated in China and spread to the
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United States. They also had outbreaks in Minnesota near the beginning in the US and
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both viruses had a high mortality rate. However, there were a couple of differences in the
two viruses. The swine flu killed the pigs, whereas the MEH-1 did not kill any animal
hosts, other than the monkey, who have similar DNA to humans. They also differ in the
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fact that MEH-1 was much quicker than the swine flu and MEH-1 spread to Chicago
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after Minnesota and the swine flu spread to Iowa.

14. Did you enjoy the movie? Why or why not? Do you think this movie was a great
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representation of how transmission of a disease could affect a mass population? Why or

why not?
- Yes, I did enjoy the movie. It was a good movie to watch. It really shows how a
virus can affect our world and us. I do think it is a good representation of how
transmission of a disease could affect a mass population because it showed how a virus

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 first began and how it spread to different countries and how it affected the person.

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