Epidemic (Outbreak)

Production and year: USA, 1995 Genre: Thriller, Action Director: Wolfgang Petersen Screenplay: Robert Roy Pool, Lawrence Dworet Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Benito Martinez Medical topic: epidemiology Description: Sam Daniels (Hoffman) is an infectious disease specialist at USARIID (U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases). He works on the most virulent new virus mutations. Our hero stumbles upon the Motaba virus case. Sam’s superiors (Freeman, Sutherland), however, try to keep him as far away from it as possible. The Motaba virus is, in fact, a top-secret biological weapon of the U.S. Army. The military has a serum created from blood samples taken from infected soldiers. The blood was collected, and then the village where the infected were staying was bombed. However, a monkey—a carrier of the virus—survived. Everyone who comes into contact with it falls ill and transmits the deadly virus to others. Military superiors remain calm—they believe that thanks to the serum, they are able to control all threats and keep their research under wraps. However, the virus mutates. It begins to spread via airborne transmission as well, threatening to rapidly spread across the entire United States. Daniels, along with Robby (Russo) and Casey (Specey), must deal with the virus and their superiors, who constantly hinder their efforts. An adaptation of Robin Cook’s novel featuring an all-star cast.