Outbreak Movie Analysis

For this assignment, I choose to watch the movie Outbreak, which is a movie about a hemorrhagic virus called “Mutoba”. In the movie, the host of the virus was a monkey. The descriptive epidemiology of the disease is as follows the virus was first discovered in 1967 in a small village in Zaire that was only a spread by contact. The virus was brought to the camp by a couple of men that sent out to build roads in the jungle then they came back to the village and drank from the well, from there all the people from the village drank form the well and by the time they found the source of the disease it was too late.

Fast forwarded to present day of the movie, the virus that infested Cedar Creek was first spread by contact because of a monkey (which had both strains of the virus) that was smuggled from Africa to a pet store to be sold. The monkey first spit on Jim Bow and then scratched the
This can happen by excretions/secretions, non-intact contact, respiratory and gastrointestinal tract as well as mucus membranes.

- Fourth you have transmission, how is the agent transmitted from the reservoir to a host. This can be achieved through direct (contact or droplet) or indirect (airborne or vehicle borne). This happens through inhalation, a break in the skin or mucus membrane, an insect bite, and also can be contaminated food. The portals of entry would be through the nose, skin, or mouth.

- Fifth is the portal of entry, how does the agent enter into the new host? This can take place either through respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, parental, skin, mucous membranes as well as blood.

- Sixth and final link is the susceptible host. There are several factors that can influence the severity of the infection. The new host immune system, age (very young or old), medical conditions, prior treatments or invasive devices, and the overall general health and nutrition of the new