Essay Sample on Infectious Diseases and Public Health Preparedness Lessons from "Contagion"

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus seems to have been foretold by the movie Contagion, which involved many epidemiologists like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Contagion is one of the most informative movies of all time that was more real and involved a disease that is transmittable from person to person, and one in four people succumb to it. The movie mimics the outbreak of a contagious virus that spreads faster throughout the world, public health response to the virus, and how the different societies are affected by the disruptions of the virus. The movie directors struck a balance between entertainment and realism, involving experts to consult about the complexes of public health responses to diseases (Pendergrast, 2011). The directors modified different viruses and created a scientifically believable storyline. They then investigated how the community would respond to the viral outbreak as well as the ethical dilemma public health employees would experience in attempting to contain the virus. The movie explores the effects the virus would have on air transport, treatment centers, and the movement of trucks from country to country. The movie also explores how the virus reshapes society, making people stop the habits of handshakes and hugs and adopt social distancing. Entertainment has an influence on people's standpoints, and Contagion leaves behind lessons to be learned about public health preparedness and infectious illnesses.

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Among the lessons drawn from Contagion is that the world is poorly prepared for unavoidable future outbreaks. Important security and scientific reasons to dread novel viruses like influenza, and poorly coordinated and ineffective response exist. In a study conducted in 2010 to examine the preparedness of health institutions against H1N1, it was realized that a good number of hospitals ignored significant disease prevention measures. One month following the release of the N1H1 vaccine, only 7% of adults had got the vaccine (Krisberg, 2011). After nine months after the N1H1 pandemic struck, about 54% of people surveyed expressed their disappointment on how the federal government supplied vaccines quoting that they were insufficient (Krisberg, 2011). Research shows that public health is usually poor in responding to public health crises, and the increase in drug resistance could pose a huge challenge.

Another fundamental lesson from Contagion is that coordination among public health practitioners is required urgently. Bettering coordination amongst the numerous agencies that respond to emergencies is critical for efficient response. Coordination ensures that information flows correctly among the agencies and every finer detail is captured (Glassman and McQueston, 2011). Coordination also ensures that all governments are equally prepared for any outbreak and that no region is less prepared than the other. Airborne diseases are hard to contain and they need a high degree of coordination. People must coordinate with health workers and their government to enhance success.

The film illustrates humans as an invasive species. As the movie ends, infected fruit bats are dislodged from tropical trees by a bulldozer. It is evident that as humans invade and damage habitats, new pathogens are more likely to erupt. That is how the human immunodeficiency virus began, with humans being infected by a simian virus from animals. Humans are living in a complex web with other creatures, and they are targeted by several infectious illnesses.

The movie also shows that bioterrorism is not to blame for all outbreaks. Officers from the Homeland Security Department in the movie tell CDC that they suppose that the virus was a bioterror attack that was meant to interrupt the Thanksgiving weekend. The CDC responds that the birds are already weaponizing the bird's flu and nobody would intend to do such. Bioterrorism fears that led to the creation of the Epidemic Intelligence Service are overrated. Although bioterrorism could trigger the spread of fatal pathogens like anthrax, it would take an extremely insane scientist to create a virus that mutates faster and transmits from human to human.

The movie also shows that fears play a significant role in an outbreak. Panic determines how society responds to the outbreak. Fears are said to be able to cause more harm than the disease itself. Fears are mostly triggered by people sharing the wrong information, especially via the internet. In Contagion, Krumwiede convinces people that the government cannot protect them and that the information shared by CDC is falsified (Krisberg, 2011). The utterance creates more fear in the people making them doubt the measures encouraged by health professionals.

Conclusion

There are different important lessons from Contagion. The movie shows that governments are always poorly prepared to tackle an outbreak. The movie illustrates that fears are counter-productive during an outbreak and should be contained first. Bioterrorism fears by the government are discouraged since the government focuses on the wrong enemy. It is important that different governments continue to prepare themselves adequately for the unforeseeable future in public health.

References

Glassman, A & McQueston, K. (2011, Sept 9). 3 lessons about outbreak preparedness from 'Contagion'. The Atlantic. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/244786/

Krisberg, K. (2011, Sept). New movie puts public health, infectious disease in spotlight: Behind the scenes of ‘Contagion’. The Nation's Health. 41(7). P1-10. http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/41/7/1.4

Pendedgrast, M. (2011, Nov 7). Infectious Diseases & Vaccines; Lessons from Contagion. http://www.thepumphandle.org/2011/11/07/lessons-from-contagion/#.XxaFk4ZRUW4