Contagion

Viruses, Plagues, and History, written by Michael Oldstone, is an insightful and highly educational book that details the history of, that’s right, viruses and plagues. Through typically dry, yet engaging prose, Oldstone recounts what seems like all of it while simultaneously bringing to light the contributions of those brave scientists who asked themselves, “why.” He focuses his attention on some of the most notable viruses such as smallpox, yellow fever, measles, polio, and later he focuses on more contemporary battles against disease.

To better elaborate, infections such as Syphilis, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, and the Spanish Flu are all forms of a Superbug (Palmer, 2010). Before Syphilis was given its name it was known as the French Disease, to some, and the Italian Disease, to others (Palmer, 2010). Syphilis is considered to be a Superbug because it silently infects its victims. Moving on Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever is an interesting form of a superbug, because it is actually contracted by a bug. Soviet scientists in the 1944’s were the first people to identify the sources of the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (Palmer, 2010). Finally, the most well known strain of the Spanish Flu was discovered in 1918, but what many individuals are not aware of is that this particular infection did not originate in Spain (Palmer, 2010). Unfortunately, there are new superbugs being brought to light, even today. To better explain, in 2010, the Indian Government began voicing their new concerns on the rising of superbugs in their nation (Palmer, 2010). However, the Indian Government is not the only government that has fears of new superbugs entering and infecting their

CDC contains the virus while Army wants to protect and eliminate. This can cause problems with an outbreak because both the CDC and the army use different strategies to eliminate/control the virus. CDC did control it then they gave the “mission” over to the Army. The book states, “He did not want the meeting to turn into a power struggle between the Centers for Disease Control and the army.” The

The history of vaccinations begin with Edward Jenner, the country doctor from Gloucestershire who found, growing on cows, a nearly harmless virus the protected people from smallpox. Jenner’s vaccine was safer, more reliable, and more durable than variolation, and it is still the only vaccine to have eliminated its reason for being-in 1980, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease extinct. For nearly a century and a half, smallpox was the only vaccine routinely administered, and it saved millions of lives . But the controversy that marked the return of the vaccine, amid bioterrorism hysteria in 2002, was only the latest twist in the remarkable, mysterious life of vaccines.

Infectious epidemics and pandemics have happened all through mankind's history. “They remain the prime cause of death worldwide and will not be conquered during our lifetimes.” The flu of 1918 was one of the deadliest epidemics in history. “It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic.” No one knew how the virus spread, there were no antibiotics to fight it, and no flu shots to prevent it. In the final year of World War I, it struck terror in the hearts of people all across Europe and left more death in its wake than the combined military actions of the combatants. “It killed more Americans in a few months than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the

* Collaborating with government and international agencies to reduce mortality and expand measles elimination goals on a global level. ("Vaccines and

During every year everyone trembles in fear as a new and stronger strand of flu like sickness comes along. These viruses are met with vaccines that are swiftly made by the World Health Organization. The problem with the way that vaccines are made is, the World Health Organization not only makes the vaccines but also deems the vaccines safe. Since they are responsible for making and deeming the vaccines safe, mistakes can lead to mass deaths. For this reason there should be checks and balances where other agencies test the vaccines for potential threat of mental illness, dangerous ingredients, and death. This system is definitely due for an complete overhaul due to the lives of the families that are affected.

In two years between 1918 and 1919, A pandemic of influenza swept mercilessly over the planet, killing millions which stood in its path. Miraculously, the exact origin of the pandemic is unclear. What is exceedingly clear, however, is that often the actions of man aided in the spread of the virus, whether due to inadvertent endangerment, close quarters, religious principles, or failure to recognize the true threat that influenza posed.

A public safety issue that is this huge has many interested parties but the main three are parents, medical professionals and the federal government. Parents have a strong interest in this issue because of their natural concern for the safety of their children. It’s a parent’s responsibility to make the best decisions they can with the information they have, in regards to the health of their children. Medical professionals also have a strong connection to this issue for several reasons. First, the growth of the anti-vaccination movement can be pinpointed to

It takes about eight months for the vaccines to be developed using chicken eggs. If another pandemic were to arise, we would not have access to the vaccines for at least eight months. Moreover, once the vaccines are made, they must be used. Vaccines that are not used cannot be stored and must be destroyed because the vaccines break down. The vaccines do include the three influenza viruses; two against different strains of type A, and one against the type B virus. (Tenpenny, 2008, Davidson, 2007-2009, Offit, 2008).

Contagion is a movie based on a deadly virus, MEV-1, which spreads around the world in a matter of days (Shamberg, Sher, Jacobs & Soderbergh, 2011). The premise is that the MEV-1 virus is spread person-to-person via airborne droplets produced by sneezes or coughs, as well as by viruses deposited on fomites, such as glasses, doorknobs, peanuts, and so on. The virus circles the globe in a matter of days, causing coughs, fevers and seizures as scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scramble to identify the pathogen and develop a vaccine. MEV-1 is presented to the audience as a pandemic. During a pandemic preserving the functionality of society is a priority (Gostin,

The main example of vaccine development that Seth described was regarding to the Ebola virus. Ebola is a virus that caused a great deal of social disruption in the United States a couple of years ago.

In the infectious disease unit, the main focal point consisted of showing the audience how the spread of a major virus may occur in population. In this case, we were presented with two movies: Contagion and 28 Days Later. These movies both displayed an infectious disease, which is spread through animals causing harm to people. A scenario that presented in Contagion seemed to be realistic possibility because a simple transmission of disease from an animal can happen. If the virus is unknown and no vaccine is available, it could certainly cause a lot of harm to a large population of people. Likewise, another possibility was also presented in 28 Days Later, where the viewers see scientist talking about monkey being infected with a virus.

Wherever there is vaccination there is some number of people who oppose it. The first step to identifying a solution to a problem in understanding how it is caused. Public support for vaccinations had been at an all time high of 95%, before the anti-vaccine movement swept across the United States. The new anti-vaccine movement in the United States can be attributed to the wide use of technology to spread ideas,

​The origin of the disease has been described at the end of the movie where we find out that a bat with a virus known as paramyxovirus that infects a pig. The pigs that are for human consumption were located near a forest that was being cut down. The pig in turn infects human beings of the earth through a chef. The agent which is very infectious is known as MEV-1 and its potential spread is estimated at 6-7 which suggests that the virus is highly transmissible from one person to the next. The virus has been compared to that of a smallpox virus with a mortality rate of up to 30%.