Republic of the Philippines

University of Northern Philippines

Tamag, Vigan City
2700 Ilocos Sur
College of Arts and Sciences

SALDIVAR, JASMIN L. EPIDEMIOLOGY LEC

BS-BIOLOGY 4A REACTION PAPER

OUTBREAK 1995

The outbreak began when a host animal (a monkey) was brought by Jimbo, who is an
employee at the Bio-Test animal holding facility. The host animal was taken to Cedar Creek,
California to be sold in the black market. Unfortunately, Jimbo got infected with the virus
through contact with the monkey’s saliva while travelling to their destination. In Cedar Creek,
the pet store owner whom Jimbo was supposed to sell the monkey also got infected after being
scratched by the host animal. He was taken to the hospital where his blood sample was subjected
for tests. However, the laboratory technician accidentally broke a vial containing the blood
sample of the pet owner and got himself infected. The symptoms didn’t appear immediately so
unknowingly, he went to a movie theatre with his lover spreading the virus to the number of
people he got in contact in the movie theatre and spread from the people in the movie theatre to
the townsfolk, thus resulting to an epidemic. In order to control it, a state of martial law was
declared in the town having the U.S. army quarantine the area in order to contain and isolate the
virus in one place. Col. Sam Daniels of the U.S. army did whatever he could with time ticking on
him because his ex-wife got the virus herself when she accidentally injected the blood sample
from Casey to her hand; Daniels conducted contact tracing and began searching for the source of
the virus. Upon learning of the virus’ source and having obtained the host, they began to create a
cure for everyone who got infected and also prevented the military from deploying a bomb set to
obliterate everyone in the city where a lot of people have been isolating.

The movie can be viewed similarly to what had occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic,
where many lives were lost and the world’s health state became at risk and utmost concern. The
movie shows how an illness affects one being and how it easily gets transferred from a host to
another. It was very informative especially when the characters mention medical terms and how
the government usually handles medical emergencies, how a single decision affects a lot of lives
and how important it is for everyone in command to be well-informed and cooperate in order to
limit and prevent further casualties from arising.

The idea of a medical practitioner wanting to save every life possible is something that I
admire from Daniels, especially when he and Salt were trying to terminate the order of
deployment of the bomb set to obliterate the people who got infected; willing to risk one’s life
for the sake of others is a feat not everyone can hope to do.

The lesson we had prior to watching the movie, were made clear as the similar terms
appeared to be mentioned by the characters. It was an excellent example of how we could relate
what we have learned from what we saw in the movie.

Human lives are precious and fleeting, that is why it is important to keep in mind and be
aware that consequences come with every decision we make and that it concerns our safety most
of the time. “The single biggest threat to a man’s dominance on the planet is the virus.” –Joshua
Leaderberg, Ph.D. Nobel laureate, not every enemy is visible, take caution and seek proper
health care when needed.

CITATIONS:

 Ebert, R. (1995, March 10). Outbreak movie review & film summary (1995) | Roger
Ebert. © Copyright 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/outbreak-1995
 Outbreak Reaction Paper. (2021). StuDocu. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-of-antique/nursing/reaction-paper-for-
the-film-showing-outbreak-1995/20059759