Blog 1

Contagion is a realistic event that I believe could actually occur. Technology is advancing every day, but infectious diseases are evolving quickly as well. I believe there will always be an ongoing arms race between technology and disease findings. The government does its best to protect its citizens, but sometimes it seems as if they are misleading the public and not providing people with accurate information. I believe the government holds information from the public for fear of how they will interpret it and because of privacy conflicts. In the film, the public began to riot and become violent as the unknown disease began to kill many more. The public was not receiving much accurate information from the government and the media, which was increasing their fears. In the end, the route of transmission given to the first victim seemed so simple. The transmission began with bats, then to pigs, and finally from the Chef's unwashed hands to the first victim. This route of transmission happens every day. Surprisingly, I believe many people working in restaurants and food establishments do not wash their hands and it is pure luck we do not end up contracting such infectious diseases. It is not unrealistic for an epidemic like Contagion to happen in the future. After watching the movie, I think more about disease transmission and all of the ways individuals can contract pathogens from each other, from handrails to sink faucets to airborne particles after sneezing. I did enjoy how Contagion had many realistic ideas and topics. However, I disliked the ending. It was a cliffhanger and I would have enjoyed a few follow up scenes with the World Health Organization investigator and the Chinese village. I would have been curious to see if the investigator revealed to the village that the vaccines were placebos and the village's reaction to the news. See you next Wednesday for more blogging on epidemiology!