How To "contagion" Spread On The Big Screen

(CNN) - At the critical moment in the recent action thriller, disease "infectious", a young detective, played by Kate Winslet, use dry erase boards to drive home the danger of a new virus that has swept away thousands of people, including Gwyneth Paltrow.

Winslet character uses a concept known as "r0" - pronounced "R-zero" --- explain the public health officials skeptical that a new virus could be much more infectious than influenza or polio.

"I wanted people to understand R0" said Scott Z. Burns, who wrote the film, which was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Here it is: R0 is the number of new cases only one infected person produces, on average. In most seasons, influenza R0 is just below 2. In the devastating 1918 pandemic was likely above 3. With such a high R0, the number of cases will increase exponentially, unless the patients are isolated and quickly receive effective treatment.

"Kate Winslet did an amazing job with him," said Burns. "This scene is really a lesson in science and mathematics, but people seem to get it."

Mathematics and advanced science are not usually part of a big Hollywood thriller, especially one with "The contagion is" expressed, not only Winslet and Paltrow, but Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and Marion Cotillard, along d a cameo CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta. But Burns and director Steven Soderbergh approached the project in a manner unusually dedicated.

Embryo had implanted the idea of ​​Burns, when he saw the online conversation, Ted, Larry Brilliant, who was one of the doctors and scientists who finally disposed of smallpox virus in 1970. When he was speaking in 2006, he worked for Google is trying to take advantage of the reach of the Internet to find warning signs of a flu pandemic or other outbreak of a deadly disease.

Burns reached Brilliant, who introduced him to Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a scientist and a police officer at the Center for Disease Infection and Immunity at Columbia University.

Lipkin describes himself as an experimental pathologist - "I'll find out what went wrong." Since much of his research, he examines the tissue samples from around the world in search of new viruses and dangerous. He began to hold a one-on-one seminars for Burns in his office and his laboratory in Colombia, which has developed into a major motion picture role as a consultant.

Lipkin said the science of "contagion" is strong enough that the film could have a long life as an educational tool for students, politicians and even public health officials.

Soon, Burns is supported ProMedMail.com daily reports, a kind of mailing list for scientists and specialists in infectious diseases, reporting of unusual or results from around the world.

"You will see three unexplained deaths in Africa, with one or two unusual virus in India. I would call Ian, and he often was sent blood and tissue to see what it was," Burns recalls.

For the real killer "contagion", "I wanted to find a virus that is particularly harmful in that it would not appear in an unusual way that could be misunderstood in a hospital in 5000 miles from where the person originally caught him. "

Burns Lipkin and finally settled on a pair of murderers, of closely related viruses that mainly live in the bat, but occasionally infect humans: Nipah virus found in Southeast Asia, and Hendra, Australia. With the pleasure of a writer, the fictional genetically engineered viruses to let it spread easily through body fluids or cough. Voila! A killer.

Meanwhile, Google had made brilliant to work on the Skoll Fund global threats, a foundation created by eBay founder Jeff Skoll co-realization of large-scale investigations of the dangers, including viruses. Skoll Another risk, media participants, founded with the mission to support films with social messages, have agreed to buy the script development. Ricky Strauss, president of the participant, he served as executive producer of "contagion."

Meanwhile, Lipkin to open more doors to the scientific community, including officials at the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Some of these places, they should not have had time during the day," says Lipkin. "But I said, 'Look, this is an important film. I would not say my name to it if I do not think that should be resolved."

The CDC is not only allowed the filmmakers spend a day shooting "on campus", but the special investigators spent the day Winslet to help him prepare for the role. Winslet was the most important guide to CDC, Dr. Anne Schuch, who led the Agency's reply to the H1N1 pandemic.

"In my discussions, the main thing I wanted was to get the intensity of these studies, the emphasis that you give and the type 24 / 7 of it," said Dr. Schuchat. "You are disconnected from your ordinary life, and totally immersed in what you do. "

Schuch has himself spent six weeks in China during the SARS epidemic in 2003, barely speaks to his family home.

As part of its promotional efforts, the media participants also built a multi-faceted website, with the work of virologists and public health experts. One of them is Dr. John Brownstein, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston, who worked with Skoll to develop an online tool to mark the outbreaks as they occur throughout the world.

Brownstein called it "a challenge" to break the science of the pandemic in the viewer a message to use.

"Since the vaccine or therapeutic (drugs), is not able to come up with three things you can do now to prevent a pandemic."

He said that people might slightly slow the spread of a pandemic, taking simple steps such as isolation in case of illness, or washing hands. (Burns, incidentally, says he took a new hand washing lesson: Do not forget to wash your thumbs.)

Lipkin said the real message of the film is political: not to cut the budgets for research on diseases and early warning systems.

In 2009, a few months in development, it seemed as if the real world development that captures the film. Burns then put the project on hold and looked to see if her imaginary scenario invented by the H1N1 virus would be real. He found himself fascinated by the pushes and pulls officials are struggling to respond to questions from the audience. He says that the pressures are very similar to civil servants and journalists.

"It's difficult," said Burns. "I do not want to be the scientist who cried wolf, or the reporter who cried wolf. The thing is that they move so quickly, and if the alarm quickly, which is far behind the curve."

In the "contagion", the director of the CDC, played by Fishburne, will send his family in isolation, as he offers a more reassuring for the public. He outed as an investigative blogger, starring Jude Law, who wins the next ball is a pandemic - some accurate, some of the deliberately misleading.

Brownstein said he liked the subplot.

"I think it's the most interesting part of the film. They have the information, and people like it back. For the notion of false reporting, and the viral nature of the Web and how it can lead to distrust."

Schuchat said the CDC is trying to move towards greater openness.

". The more we focus on transparency, more credibility we have shared what they knew we knew, but also took care to say that could change - not the last word on it."

Now that is decimating its creation to a world full of some of the biggest stars of Hollywood, Burns paused when asked if the project is relieved or worried about our vulnerability to an emerging virus murderer.

"On the one hand, wrote to scare me. I wanted to be realistic, and I asked these scientists," Can this or that scenario a reality? "And I always say:" Of course, it could happen. "Furthermore, I read an article two years ago, and explained how human DNA is full of remnants of our battles with the retrovirus. There's something poetic about it. So with people and the virus, when looking at the longevity of the relationship, there is some comfort.

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