Q&A USA

감독: Steven Soderbergh

주연: Marion Cotillard/Matt Damon/Laurence Fishburne/Jude Law/Gwyneth Paltrow/Kate Winslet

Beth는 홍콩 출장에서 돌아온 후에 갑자기 발작을 일으키며 사망하고 남편(맷 데이먼)이 원인을 알기 전에 아들마저 죽게된다.

시간이 얼마 지나지 않아 세계의 각국 사람들이 같은 증상으로 사망하게 된다.

일상생활의 접촉을 통해서 전파되는 전염수가 기아급수적으로 늘어나게 된다.

미국 질병통제센터의 Cheever박사는 경험이 뛰어난 Erin박사를 감염현장으로 급파하고 WHO의 Orantes박사는 최초발병경로를 조사하는데 이 곳에서 진실이 은폐됐다고 주장하는 프리랜서 저널리스트 Alan이 촉발한 음모론의 공포가 그가 운영하는 블로그를 통해서 원인불명의 바이러스처럼 퍼져 나가는 story.

Returning from a business trip in Hong Kong, Beth Emhoff has a layover in Chicago to have sex with a former lover. Two days later, in her family home in suburban Minneapolis, she collapses with seizures. Her husband, Mitch, rushes her to the hospital, but she dies of an unknown cause. Mitch returns home and finds that his stepson Clark has died from a similar disease. Mitch is put in isolation but is found to be immune; he is released and returns home to his teenage daughter Jory.

In Atlanta, representatives of the DHS meet with Dr. Ellis Cheever of the CDC and express fears that the disease is a bioweapon intended to cause terror over the Thanksgiving weekend. Cheever dispatches Dr. Erin Mears, an EIS officer, to Minneapolis to investigate. Mears traces the outbreak back to Beth. She negotiates with local bureaucrats, who are reluctant to commit resources for a public health response. Mears becomes infected and dies. As the virus spreads, Chicago is placed into quarantine and looting and violence breaks out.

At the CDC, Dr. Ally Hextall determines the virus is a mix of genetic material from pig and bat viruses. Work on a cure stalls because scientists cannot discover a cell culture within which to grow the newly identified MEV-1. UCSF professor Dr. Ian Sussman violates orders from Cheever to destroy his samples, and identifies a usable MEV-1 cell culture using bat cells. Hextall uses the breakthrough to work on a vaccine. Other scientists determine the virus is spread by fomites, with a basic reproduction number of four when the virus mutates; they project that one in 12 of the world population will be infected, with a 25-30% mortality rate.

Conspiracy theorist Alan Krumwiede posts videos about the virus on his blog. In one video, he claims he has cured himself of the virus using a homeopathic cure derived from forsythia. People seeking forsythia overwhelm pharmacies. During a television interview, Krumwiede discloses that Cheever secretly informed friends and family to leave Chicago before it was quarantined. Cheever is informed he will be investigated. Krumwiede, having faked his illness to boost sales of forsythia, is arrested for conspiracy and securities fraud.

Using an attenuated virus, Hextall identifies a possible vaccine. To cut out the lengthy time it would take to obtain informed consent from infected patients, Hextall inoculates herself with the experimental vaccine and visits her infected father. She does not contract MEV-1 and the vaccine is declared a success. The CDC awards vaccinations by lottery based on birthdate. By this time, the death toll has reached 2.5 million in the U.S. and 26 million worldwide.

In Hong Kong, WHO epidemiologist Dr. Leonora Orantes and public health officials identify Beth as the index case. Government official Sun Feng kidnaps Orantes to use her as leverage to obtain MEV-1 vaccine doses for his village. WHO officials provide them with vaccines and she is released. When Leonora learns the vaccines given to the village were placebos, she runs to warn them.

In China, days before Beth is infected, a bulldozer knocks down a tree, disturbing some bats. One flies over a pig pen and drops a piece of banana, which is eaten by a pig. The pigs are slaughtered and prepared by a chef who shakes hands with Beth in the casino, transferring the virus to her.