Just saw the movie Contagion, an epic bio-thriller. In the movie Contagion, the race is on to find a vaccine for a lethal global pandemic called MEV1. The virus quickly spread through China and the U.S. areas killing a couple of people, then a couple of hundred then the number of infected and dead victims killed were increase and multiplied by thousand and then millions.
The movie is about a fictional virus called, MEV 1 consisted of a high fever, chills, seizures, disorientation, sweating, nausea, foaming at the mouth, lethargy etc. similar to the virus H1N1
A lethal virus with no treatment protocol and no vaccine? What could this have been from? How? Where? What were the cases statistically? Nobody knew.
The CDC and the WHO worked together tirelessly to put the information together to learn what they could about the virus, it’s origin, how it attaches to the cell and the damage that it causes to the cells and the body while it replicates hostily.
During a meeting, the epidemiologists, doctors and researchers in the movie, suggested that the germs from people who were exposed to the virus came from fomites, or surface areas. The places that people sit on, touch and come in physical contact with while carrying the virus. People infected bus poles, phones, doorknobs, buttons, personal spaces and so on. The infected group of people coughed releasing infected respiratory droplets which likely infected others and spread which was the very reason that everyone was seen wearing the protective masks and the body substance isolation gear throughout the film especially around the dead bodies. Some interesting information that I picked up during the movie was that the average person touches their face three to five times per minute. In between these times we touch door knobs, water fountains and each other. How cautionary is that? Interesting that a lot of this information is what we learned in class about handwashing, Germ Theory of Disease, Koch’s postulates and the very evil side of bacteria.
There was a complete and wide spread panic and engendered distrust of the government in which riots broke out resulting in burglaries, thefts and killings among people whom were desperate for the cure. Once word got out that there would be a goverened supply of food and medication vaccinations people were panicking all over the place. All health inspectors walk around in hazmat suits, police, firefighters try to get the situation stable to no avail. To add to more widespread panic, there is a blogger who relentlessly tries to convince the public that there is s conspiracy between pharmaceutical agencies and the government to hide the facts about the virus.
The director attempted to make the story seem as authentic as possible by showing the impact that the virus had on millions of people and how . Have they succeeded? Maybe so. It might have turned me into a germaphobe of some sort. I have to say… I would have questions about the government’s intentions should an outbreak occur. Would they actually keep a life saving cure from the public in order to profit off of other companies for vaccinations and treatments? Sounds like greed to me.
I am an EMT and a Medical Assistant. Many people will come into urgent care and demand antibiotics for viruses. They can only alleviate the symptoms temporarily, not cure their virus. Many people are confused about the difference between viruses and bacterial infections. Antibiotics do not cure viruses. Antibiotic resistance can occur and render uselessness against infections during the time of need.
My career will be working as a nurse soon and I just hope that medical professionals are also aware of sterility and asceptic techniques in their minds so that we set the bar and prevent contributing to this unfortunate possibility in reality.
The nature of this movie, Contagion is to make us feel compelled to keep in mind what microorganisms that we might come in contact with throughout our daily lives which should inspire us to wash our hands and be cognizant of germs and how they can spread and cause disease.
The role that I would play if I were in the movie would have been the role of Dr Ally Hextall, who was working to perfect a vaccine before time ran out. The heroic part of her role was that she saved millions of lives by injecting herself with the vaccines due to her time constraint and human and animal trials not being a viable option during the movie.
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