Contagion The Movie Essay

678 Words3 Pages
Epidemiology is the study of health and disease in populations. [Porta, 2008] According to the book “Introduction to Community health”, the goal of epidemiology is to limit disease, injury, and death in a community by intervening to prevent or limit outbreaks or epidemics of disease and injury (p.58). The movie, “Contagion,” follows the spread of an unknown virus and how public health officials react to identify and end the transmission of the disease. Particularly, after Elizabeth Emhoff gets infected with an unknown virus that got in Hong Kong, she travels back to the United States and during the process was spreading the disease to others. The movie then continues with public health officials investigating the outbreak and stopping it from…show more content…
The movie starts with the outbreak, which is pandemic because it affects a wide geographical area. In particular, people across continents have gotten the virus, this is how we can tell is pandemic. The movie includes outbreak investigation, which is basically how public health officials act in answer to an outbreak. The book talks about a chain of infection model showing disease prevention and control strategies. Likewise, in the film the Centers for Disease Control integrate methods of outbreak investigation to track down the virus. Public health officials watch videotapes of Elizabeth’s activities in a Hong Kong casino to find the moment and where she might have gotten the virus, and whom she might have spread the virus to. Other strategies of outbreak investigation include test blood samples of infected people from London and Hong Kong to discover and learn more about the virus. Another relevant things in the movie are isolation and quarantine. In the scene when Dr. Erin Mears orders that the people that have gotten the virus must be isolated and people who might have been exposed should be quarantined. It is important to find out if the disease is communicable or non-communicable. Communicable disease refers to the ability of a biological agent to enter and grow in a host. On the other hand, non-communicable disease is not infectious, but can occur in epidemic
Show More
Related

  • Amy Coplan's Use Of Emotional Contagion In Film

    1798 Words  | 8 Pages

    When the word ‘Contagion’ comes to mind most people would instantaneously think of a disease that is capable of spreading quickly. Similarly emotional contagion in terms of film and philosophy can be described as the jumping of emotions from screen to the audience which in turn makes the audience feel more emotional as the viewer watches a close up of the character and its emotional expressions. These essays aims to discuss the phenomenon of ‘emotional contagion’, Amy Coplan’s account of emotional

    Read More

More about Contagion The Movie Essay

Open Document