Reflection Paper on Immunity and Infection

Reflection papers are a 3 – 5 page reaction to and synthesis of a topic of personal interest that has been covered in class or in the reading assignments in your text.  It should be  “personal” in the sense that it ties the topic to your life in some way.  It should also demonstrate an overall understanding of the topic. The paper should be typed using Microsoft Word and sources appropriately referenced. 

 

I need the first part of this paper to be factual about immunity and infection. In the second part of this paper, I want you to tie in the movie “Contagion.” It is a movie where a lethal pandemic quickly spreads as the medical community races to find a vaccine and people struggle to survive. I will attach a document that you can use to tie in the movie into the paper. 

 

I need it by 10 pm tonight.

 

Contagion

1 Define Fomite.

A fomite is an inanimate object, substance or source of disease that can continue to transmit infectious organisms from one individual to another, thus leading to an outbreak of disease.

2 List the means of transmission.

An infectious disease can be transmitted by means of clothing, furniture, soap, a drinking glass and along with other tangible items. In the movie Contagion, the means of transmission was by various entities such as bedding sheets, a cough a martini glass.

3 Define contagious.

Contagious is a form of medical terminology associating with the likelihood of the transmission in terms of a specific disease or an adverse condition. The disease or illness becomes contagious when the infected individuals or organisms make contact or interacts with the non-affected individuals or organisms thus prolonging the continuation and spreading of the specified disease to another living being.

4 What human systems did the agent affect?

In the movie Contagion, the infectious virus was spread through the world’s population in less than a few weeks. This transferable virus latched onto the brain to destroyed the human’s immune system, unbalanced their thermoregulation and eventually kill the infected subjects. The virus spread so rapidly because it was attached onto the brain; the control center for the entire body. Due to the fact that the brain was so highly defeated, the virus continued to obliterate the rest of the human body’s functional systems.

5 Who was the index patient?

Beth Emhoff, the mother, wife and world traveler was determined to be the index patient of the specified infectious virus.

6 What was the mortality rate?

Through out the entire movie, the CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention) officials were extremely hesitant in revealing the mortality rate caused by the infectious epidemic disease. The CDC stood to believe that if they were to inform the general public of the current death rate it would cause a detrimental outbreak of panic thus leading to uncontrollable chaos. The CDC did not want to inform the public that one out of every twelve individuals were susceptible to catching the deadly virus. When it finally came time to reveal the mortality rate to the entire world, 25-30% of the world’s population had already died. Approximately 2.5 million Americas contributed to the 25-30% mortality rate.

7 How did they “mitigate” the disease prior to the vaccine?

Prior to the discovery of the cure to the infectious disease and the availability of the vaccination, specific medical analysis and testing had to occur. When experimenting with this virus, the virus had to be alive in order for them to properly transfer it into another living creature. The scientists and epidemiologist working on this case had to implant the virus into over fifty monkeys to be able to see the potential outcome and cure rates.

In the mean time, forsythia a natural remedy was used by a fairly large population to cure as well as prevent themselves from dying from the contagious virus.

8 Define incubation period and report how long was the incubation period for this agent?

The terminology incubation period, refers to the duration of time that is required for a certain development to occur. In relation to the movie Contagion, the incubation period was characterized by the duration of time from when the virus was contracted to the onset of the consequent illness and symptoms. The incubation period in Contagion consisted of less than ten consecutive days.

9 What type of agent was it and how did it spread to humans?

An epidemiologic agent is defined as the cause of the infectious disease that in return is related to the epidemiologic triangle. The scientists at the CDC were able to determine that the agent was caused by an extremely unusual cross connection first from a bat and then onto a pig. Then at some point, the pig was turned into consumable food products, which eventually was consumed by a living human, thus becoming the first victim of the epidemic.

10 List two hosts for the agent.

As mentioned previously, the two hosts for the agent was a pig and a bat.