What is the theme of the movie Contagion?
Duty versus Human Reaction. The film focuses on the issue of the responsibilities of one’s ob versus responsibilities to one’s family.
What is the story of contagion?
When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to Minnesota from a Hong Kong business trip, she attributes the malaise she feels to jet lag. However, two days later, Beth is dead, and doctors tell her shocked husband (Matt Damon) that they have no idea what killed her. Soon, many others start to exhibit the same symptoms, and a global pandemic explodes. Doctors try to contain the lethal microbe, but society begins to collapse as a blogger (Jude Law) fans the flames of paranoia.
Does Dr Erin Mears die in Contagion?
Cheever dispatches Dr. Erin Mears, an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, to Minneapolis where she traces everyone having had contact with Beth. She negotiates with reluctant local bureaucrats to commit resources for a public health response. Soon after, Mears becomes infected and dies.
What type of infectious agent was in Contagion?
Contagion scenario: The deadly disease in the movie is modeled off a combination of influenza and a virus called Nipah, which causes inflammation of the brain and respiratory disease.
What is the reservoir in the movie Contagion?
Fruit-eating bats belonging to the Pteropus genus (known as flying foxes) are the natural reservoir for Nipah and Hendra viruses.
How do you recover from a bacterial infection?
Many bacterial infections can be treated successfully with appropriate antibiotics, although antibiotic-resistant strains are beginning to emerge. Immunisation is available to prevent many important bacterial diseases. A virus is an even smaller micro-organism that can only reproduce inside a host’s living cell.
Are Emerging Viruses new viruses?
An emerging virus is a term applied to a newly discovered virus, one that is increasing in incidence or with the potential to increase in incidence. Many viruses fit into this definition. HIV is the clearest example of a previously unknown virus that has now produced one of the largest pandemics in history.
Why are new viruses emerging?
Changes in the environment such as rainforest developments have led to an increase in contact between wild animals and humans. As a result, viruses which only existed in rainforests are able to be transmitted to a new human host. Climate changes such as global warming are another cause for the emergence of new viruses.
Where do emerging viruses come from?
Drivers of viral emergence Factors such as deforestation, reforestation, habitat fragmentation and irrigation can all impact the ways in which humans come into contact with wild animal species, and consequently promote virus emergence.
What are emerging viral diseases?
Emerging viruses such as Ebola, H5N1 and H7N9 avian influenza viruses, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) represent only a subset of viral diseases, yet they often capture public attention because of their ability (in many cases) to spread rapidly and the potential of some to cause high …
Why do diseases exist?
A disease may be caused by external factors such as pathogens or by internal dysfunctions. For example, internal dysfunctions of the immune system can produce a variety of different diseases, including various forms of immunodeficiency, hypersensitivity, allergies and autoimmune disorders.
WHO top emerging diseases?
WHO list of most important emerging infectious diseases
- Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever.
- Filovirus diseases (Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease)
- Highly pathogenic emerging Coronaviruses relevant to humans (MERS and SARS)
- Lassa fever.
- Nipah virus infection.
- Rift Valley fever.
How are diseases created?
Infectious diseases commonly spread through the direct transfer of bacteria, viruses or other germs from one person to another. This can happen when an individual with the bacterium or virus touches, kisses, or coughs or sneezes on someone who isn’t infected.
How did Ebola start?
Scientists do not know where Ebola virus comes from. However, based on the nature of similar viruses, they believe the virus is animal-borne, with bats or nonhuman primates (chimpanzees, apes, monkeys, etc.) being the most likely source.
Which disease is caused by protozoa?
Diseases caused by protozoa and helminths, such as malaria and schistosomiasis, are the cause of most parasite related morbidity and mortality, with an estimated 1.1 million combined deaths annually.
What was the first disease?
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) may well be the oldest pathogen to haveinfected humankind. Modern humans (or homo sapiens) emerged out of the “hominid” group almost two million years ago, and began wandering out of Africa about 70,000 years ago to populate the world.
Where did 1918 flu start?
Some medical historians and epidemiologists have theorized that the 1918 pandemic began in Asia, citing a lethal outbreak of pulmonary disease in China as the forerunner of the pandemic. Others have speculated the virus was spread by Chinese or Vietnamese laborers either crossing the United States or working in France.