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Compare And Contrast Contagion And The American Plague

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Two stories, one purpose. Contagion and The American Plague tell the story of mankind's fight for survival. With a vast amount of humans dying in infected areas, the government brings together the most renowned scientists in the medical field. In Contagion, the disease originated in China, and they sent scientists to Hong Kong to help find the source of the virus. In The American Plague, the disease originated in Africa, and they sent scientist to Cuba where the disease is often found. The American Plague, otherwise known as Yellow Fever, struck Memphis hard in 1878. Rich or poor, mothers or children, Yellow Fever showed no discrimination. It struck like a ghost in the night, unseen and unnoticed till the symptoms arrived. The virus in Contagion was similar to Yellow Fever; it caused mass destruction and panic. Neither disease showed mercy. Frightened of the disease, people moved in fear for their lives. In The American Plague, all that was left of Memphis was the poor, who had no chance of escape. In the movie Contagion, Mitch Emhoff attempted to send his daughter to her mother’s. After a failed attempt of sending his daughter away, they tried to escape the …show more content…

The characters in Contagion and The American Plague share similar attributes; they put other peoples lives before their own. Bravely, Dr. Lazear from The American Plague and Dr. Nextel from Contagion both self experimented on themselves in hopes of finding a solution. Dr. Mears and Sister Constance both showed great compassion throughout the film and the book. Using great strength, they both persevered and were a great help to society. While on her death bed, Dr. Mears gave her blanket to a sick man. Sister Constance worked until her dying breath to save as many lives as possible. Determined to stay in the heart of the epidemic, she refused to be housed outside of the city. These brave souls are the reason so many lives were

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If war can eliminate people 's lives, so can a plague. The Black Death was the disastrous pandemic of mankind. This plague swiped over Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Back then, insufficient of research of medical studies aided the spread of the Black Death. Variety of factors contributed to lack of research.

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459 Words | 2 Pages

The plague caused these two groups to handle a major epidemic drastically different both good and

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488 Words | 2 Pages

“We were in the center of a dying city.” That was the thought of millions of yellow fever victims during the devastating outbreak of 1793. This disaster is the focus of the nonfiction text “An American Plague.” The text is about a young woman, Catherine LeMaige, who lost her life to yellow fever, although her doctors did all they could. After recounting the symptoms, they concluded Catherine had contracted yellow fever, and was one of the earliest victims.

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107 Words | 1 Pages

Another similarity between Smallpox and the black death is that they both advanced important movements. Smallpox is credited with being the cause of the rise of the American abolition movement. White people living in the slave ports feared for their own health, which brought the notion of the movement itself. The Black Death is credited with being the cause of the Reformation. Due to people like William the One-day Priest, the church was thought to be corrupt.

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157 Words | 1 Pages

They both were caused by rats with infected blood. Also, there was no treatment for both. The Black Plague goes into your blood and the Justinian Plague gave you tomers and comas, which can cause death. Last, the Justinian Plague you can survive, but the Black Plague, once you get it you can't survive.

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The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black death is a disease that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. The disease seemed incurable and spread like wildfire. The effects were devastating as roughly one third of Europe’s population is thought to have been lost along with countless Jewish people as the subject of blame. The origin of the Bubonic Plague was Central Asia but it made its way to Europe through trade ships. Fleas, the source of the disease, were on the rats carried over by these ships.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

It infected the lungs, and it could be spread to others through cough droplets (“Plague”). Because these illnesses were so severe, many people lost their lives as a

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731 Words | 3 Pages

The reactions from the Christians and the Muslims to the greatly feared disease, known as the Black Death or the Great Plague were different in several ways. The first Plague was documented from 541 to 544 CE. Known as the Plague of Justinian. The Plague came in three different ways: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. With bubonic being the most common.

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Pd.2 Compare and Contrast Yellow Fever Doctors In Philadelphia in 1793, a disease that filled the whole town with terror broke out and struck the world, yellow fever. The disease spread rapidly and killed an estimated 2,000-5,000 people. Long ago, the best doctors in America lived in Philadelphia during this epidemic disease. They studied yellow fever as best as they could with their prior knowledge from previous diseases.

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601 Words | 3 Pages

Often as a result of overpopulation, pandemics—like swine flu and ebola, for instance—have affected life on Earth for centuries; one of the most well-known, and possibly the most unforgiving epidemics was the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death . Although the first symptoms of the Plague trace back to the Mongol Empire in 1331, the disease first struck Europe in Venice and Genoa during the winter of 1348. In the following years, the Bubonic Plague spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing roughly a third of its population. It is suggested that the rapid spread and extreme severity of the Black Death was partially due to the weakened immune system of the Europeans, which had been caused by the Great Famine, a period of food scarcity that affected Europe from 1315 to 1322. Additionally, the lack of knowledge about the spread of

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One of the first important issues that Crosby discusses in her the book is the transmission and spread of yellow fever throughout the country. The epidemic started advancing quickly as countries relied and profited from selling and trading goods from West Africa. A big part of that theory is that Africa had the perfect climate for mosquitos to breed. Yellow fever requires warm weather to multiply and succeeds in hot, wet summers when mosquitoes can breed easily. Steamboats used to transport slaves

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During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place

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The Black Death, the most notorious epidemic of the plague, wiped out around thirty to fifty percent of Europe’s population between around 1346-1353. Despite the massive loss of life, it is important to consider that dire situations can reap surprising benefits and are often necessary to give society a nudge forward to greater prospects. As traumatic and horrific as the Black Death was, it offered a variety of opportunities that assisted in propelling Europe to a brighter future. 1. Advancements in Anatomy

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In The New Plague by Elizabeth Rollins the idea of being forced to face details of what you hate the most about someone you love when you are forced into enclosed space with them is explored in this pre-post-apocalyptic short horror story. After being diagnosed with a highly contagious terminal disease, a husband and wife are placed under home quarantine. During this time we see the strong differences between the husband and wife, emotionally and how they view the world. We see after they face the illness together and all its ups and downs the way the view the world without giving up their core values. The New Plague by Elizabeth Rollins explores people at their core and how they change when they are forced to face their flaws while trying to live their lives in the face of death.

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The movie Contagion directed by Steven Soderbergh demonstrates how fast and effective diseases can spread. The audience quickly learn about a disease that rapidly takes over the world by the cause of one person, the main character of the movie, Beth. After leaving Hong Kong from a business trip, and returning back to Minnesota, she believes she is suffering from jet lag, however, she is later pronounced dead. After the doctors investigated Beth’s death, the federal government and state became involved. Shortly after, many people suffered from the same virus which cause the state and federal government to take action.

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