ACA0809

Where did the virus originate? How did the virus spread? How did the virus become
more complicated? Why did the spread of the virus become out of hand? What solution
did the protagonist came up with to stop the disease? Further research, what possible
factors affect the tendency of a virus to mutate? Further research, how does a virus
mutate? In relation to the Philippines/the world's situation today, what must be done in
order to stop any further the spread of COVID-19?

In the movie “Outbreak”, in 1967 during the Kisangani Mutinies, a deadly virus
took the lives of many people in a span of days in a small village located in Africa which
was spread only by contact. This deadly virus was called the Motaba virus. The U.S.
Army officers Donald McClintock and Billy Ford incinerates the camp and the village
where the soldiers are infected to keep the virus secret making it as their biological
weapon.
Twenty-eight years later, Colonel Sam Daniels, a USA MRIID virologist, was sent
to investigate an outbreak in Zaire. He and his crew were to gather information and
inform his superior Billy of what had happened. The virus was carried to the camp by a
couple of men who are entrusted to build roads in the jungle then they came back to
the village and drank from the well. All the people who drank from the well became sick
and only to discover that they are infected.
The spread of virus became more complicated when the host, a monkey, was
smuggled from Africa to a pet store to be sold. The smuggler was not able to sell the
monkey so he releases it in a California woodland. The movie shows how the virus is
being spread from one to another when the first carrier gets off a flight to Boston. Now
he is showing some of the symptoms of the virus. He was greeted by his girlfriend and
they kissed. Another carrier spreads the virus when he sneezes in a movie theater in a
small town in California. The carrier was brought to a hospital and tested his blood in a
laboratory which breaks in a centrifuge infecting the scientist. And so, the virus was
spread from there on.
In the movie, the Motaba virus was spread through direct contact with the host,
a monkey. The virus was able to infect humans because of the similarity of the genes
between human and the monkey. The genetics of human and monkey are very similar
when their DNA’s are compared with each other. The DNA of humans and monkey are
so alike that the virus is transmitted quickly because it didn’t need to mutate in the
human body in order to survive.
This virus is like Ebola but is much worse. When a person is infected by contact,
its first symptom is having pale lips, red-rimmed eyes and a sweaty face which portrays
horrible flu-like symptoms. Within a few hours, this person would be coughing and
stumbles around then goes into convulsions. Then the person starts to bleed and
bruises appear all over the body as the virus liquifies the inside which causes death. In
ACA0809

short, this is a hemorrhagic disease in which melts the internal organs and causes
extreme internal bleeding.
The spread of virus became out of hand since after the monkey infected people,
the virus mutated and became contagious by air. In the movie, it is shown by
comparing the two viruses from 1967 to the present virus in Cedar Creek that the
protein coat around the virus changed making the virus able to survive in the air. The
present virus has a sharp box like structure which surrounds the virus and helps it to
survive in the air longer.
The protagonist, Colonel Sam Daniels, had known about the Operation Clean
Sweep which was to contain the virus by bombing Cedar Creek. This would incinerate
the whole town and its residents to prevent the further spread of the virus and conceals
the truth about it being a biological weapon.
So, Daniels and his crew came up a solution to stop the virus which was to
locate the host which has serum that can cure the disease. McClintock had ordered to
arrest Daniels to prevent him from finding cure but Daniels and Salt were able to
escape. Daniels was able to locate the ship which carried the monkey. Daniel acquires a
picture of the monkey and releases it to the media to help them find it. Mrs. Jeffries, a
Palisades resident, realizes that her daughter Kate had been playing with the monkey,
which her daughter called Betsy, and called CDC. Now Daniels and Salt arrived at the
Jeffries’ house to capture Betsy. They were able to capture Betsy after Kate coaxes her
to come out in the woods and tranquilizes her.
On their way back, McClinton still chases after them. Salt was able to deceived
them by firing two rockets into the trees thinking that they had crashed. Once they
came back in Cedar Creek, Salt mixes Betsy’s antibodies with Ford’s serum to create an
antiserum. With this antiserum, they were able to cure the disease.
According the several studies, there are several possible factors that can affect
the mutation of the virus. Temperature is one of the factors why virus mutate.
Temperature affects the structural arrangement of proteins and the elasticity of
biomolecules such as proteins and membrane lipids. Therefore, the viruses tend to
mutate their molecular or structural differences to regulate the sensitivity of viral lipid
membranes or capsid proteins to protect the virus from dying and survive from change
in temperature (Selinger et al., 1991; Evilevitch et al., 2008). Another one is salinity,
viral capsids have different permeabilities to salt ions and water which can destroy or
inactivate virus particles when exposed to rapid changes in ionic strength (Cordova et
al., 2003). Similar to temperature, viruses mutate to adapt in order to survive. Another
is nutrients, wherein the hist physiology plays a crucial role in determining viral life
strategy. Seasonal studies and nutrient addition experiments demonstrate that the
growth of viruses can be enhanced through altering the host metabolism by the host
growth rate (Williamson et al.,2002; Motegi & Nagata, 2007; Payet & Suttle, 2013).
ACA0809

The only way for the viruses to reproduce is through a host cell in which they
attach their surface protein to the cell’s membrane and injects its genetic material into
the cell. This genetic material, either RNA or DNA, now carries with it the instructions to
the cell’s machinery to make more viruses. These new viruses leave the cell and infect
other parts of the host organism. All living things have immune system that can defend
against pathogens. That’s why virus must adapt, evolve or mutate to change its
proteins in order to be able to attach itself to the cell’s surface membrane (CBC’s
Journalistic Standards and Practices, 2009).
In relation to the situation today, DOH recommends to practice protective
measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. The most effective protection measure is to
wash your hands properly and frequently. You must wash your hands with soap and
water for at least 20 seconds. Another one is to practice social distancing. One must
maintain a distance of at least one meter away from one to another. Third is to practice
proper cough etiquette and always see to it that you wash your hands after sneezing or
coughing. Also, always listen to what the government says. For example, do not go out
of your house and go galivanting since you just felt like doing it. If you go out, you
would just most likely to be infected and help spread the virus. And when you go out to
go buy groceries, always wear mask and use alcohol or sanitizer to disinfect. This
maybe simple things but these are able to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Reference
CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices, (2009, May 5). FAQ: How viruses mutate.
CBC News [Television broadcast]. Canada: CBC Gem
Cordova, A., Deserno, M., Gelbar,t W.M., Ben-Shaul, A. (2003) Osmotic shock and the
strength of viral capsids. Biophys J85: 70–74.
Evilevitch, A., Fang, LT., Yoffe, A.M., et al. (2008) Effects of salt concentrations and
bending energy on the extent of ejection of phage genomes. Biophys J94: 1110–
1120.
Motegi, C., Nagata, T. (2007) Enhancement of viral production by addition of nitrogen
or nitrogen plus carbon in subtropical surface waters of the South Pacific. Aquat
Microb Ecol48: 27–34.
Payet, J.P., Suttle, C.A. (2013) To kill or not to kill: the balance between lytic and
lysogenic viral infection is driven by trophic status. Limnol Oceanogr58: 465–
474.
Selinger, R.L.B., Wang, Z., Gelbart, W.M., Ben-Shaul, A. (1991) Statistical-
thermodynamic approach to fracture. Phys Rev A43: 4396–4400.
Williamson, S.J., Paul, J.H. (2006) Environmental factors that influence the transition
from lysogenic to lytic existence in the phi HSIC/Listonella pelagia marine phage-
host system. Microb Ecol52: 217–225.