Mataba virus

Edit Outbreak Jump to: Summaries 4 Synopsis 1. The synopsis below may give away important plot points. Getting Started Contributor Zone ». Edit page. Top Gap. See more gaps ». Create a list ».

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Watch options. Storyline Edit. Colonel Dr. Out of the blue, he is assigned by his superior General Billy Ford to investigate a lethal disease in an African village with his crew formed by the scientist Casey Schuler and Major Dr. However General Ford tells that the disease kills so fast that would never reach their country. However, an African smuggled monkey carrier of the disease is brought to USA and the customs employee Jimbo Scott unsuccessfully tries to sell the animal.

He releases the monkey in the woods and spreads the disease in the beginning of an outbreak in a small town in California. Now Colonel Daniels, his ex-wife and their teams must fight the invisible enemy while Colonel Daniels discovers dark secrets from his superior General Donald McClintock. Try to remain calm. Rated R for language. Did you know Edit. Trivia When investigating the village in Zaire, several huts are burned down.

This is the traditional tribal method for controlling the spread of an infection in many parts of the world. Food and water are left outside the entrance to the dwelling, and the occupants cannot leave. However, in the spread of pandemic disease, what if the development of medical ethics and epidemiology cannot prevent viruses from evolving and mutating? Eventually, virus evolution may surpass the speed of human research and the creation of vaccines.

When that day comes, the deontological principle may no longer provide a solution, and people will start to discuss the controversial theory of utilitarian ethical theory. Torn between utilitarian and deontological ethics, Ford suggests Major General McClintock try to find the host in order to produce antibodies to the mutated strain. Ford listens to the brief of a biowar defense expert and learns that the epidemic has spread.

The tests are faulty. Though with pain clearly visible on his face, Ford commands his fellow soldiers:. Gentlemen, I have in my hand the final authorization to proceed, signed by the president. I know that each of us has doubts about what we are about to do. It is only human to have doubts when you are commanded to take the lives of other human beings. Remember your wives, remember your children We are doing what is right, and what the nation requires of us.

To stop the virus from spreading, Colonel Daniels requests a quarantine in Cedar Creek. However, even in setting up a quarantine, without finding the host to develop the antiserum, there is still no way to stop the infection.

Without antiserum, even firebombing Cedar Creek does not guarantee that the Motaba infection may not break out again someday. That is, firebombing would cause more pain and less welfare, which disobeys the principle of utilitarian ethics. In the lead Apache, snipers lean out the window.

Their telescopic sights lock on Gillespie and Salt. Major General McClintock: Give me an order to fire, sir. We do not need the monkey. Colonel Daniels: You do. How long did it take you to do the last one? A year? Two years? Hence, the race against two ticking time bombs becomes a race between utilitarian ethics and deontological ethics. Ford falls into the ethical dilemma between whether Salt can successfully create the antiserum to save the Cedar Creek residents or whether he must resume Operation Clean Sweep, sacrificing few people in order to save the greatest number of humans.

You must not bomb this town. Major General McClintock: Sandman. This is viper command, you are being spoofed by com chatter. Colonel Daniels: Your commanders do not have the current data. We do.

We have an antiserum being administered as we speak. Every infected person will have their dosage, so you must abort the mission. This is urgent! You cannot bomb this town! You must abort! I am talking to the pilots in the bomber.

I know what you are about to do is not easy. However, I have told you the truth. Colonel Daniels: Okay guys no more words. We are not moving from your path [ 9 ] pp. In contrast, Daniels risks being sentenced or dismissed by the military, attempting to find the host of the virus to produce a vaccine for the epidemic.

In order to protect the innocent, Daniels even flies a helicopter, intending to collide with the plane that is ordered to bomb Cedar Creek. Daniels is using his life to prevent innocent people from being harmed, underlining the principle of humanity values [ 19 ].

As Thomasma [ 4 ] notes, utilitarian theory has been criticized in that it cannot correctly predict the outcome of an action. Moreover, the action may not always turn out to have a desirable consequence, sometimes turning out to be evil instead. The firebombing of the residents of African jungle ignores individual rights and innocent people, but it may put an end to the Motaba infection; that is, the bombing may bring the least harm and the greatest happiness to the most people.

However, the bombing cannot stop the infection but instead gives the virus a chance to mutate to become airborne. There is a difficulty in calculating the maximum utility for a given action, not knowing whether the action can lead to an increase or decrease in happiness or pain for the majority of human beings [ 25 ]. For instance, in Outbreak , initially, McClintock and Ford believe, as utilitarians, that that the bombing action in the African jungle guarantees the maximum benefit to human beings; however, the seemingly utilitarian action turns out to be an uncontrollable catastrophe.

Therefore, it is not easy to justify the moral correctness of the action. Facing an unknown virus, which appears in the middle of an African jungle during battle, a government would normally give medical care professionals time to make vaccines and stop the virus from spreading. However, a utilitarian may decide to achieve the fastest and biggest benefits: to use the bomb to wipe out the epidemic. McClintock and Ford definitely know that the only way to bring the greatest benefit to human beings is to find the host.

Colonel Daniels: You knew about Motaba all along. E was the antiserum. You could have stopped the outbreak before it mutated. You must tell me what the host is. Brigadier General Ford: We have not found the host.

We had to synthesize the antiserum. Colonel Daniels: We could have stopped it then, but we do not because we must protect the perfect biological weapon. However, then the virus mutates and we cannot stop it now and we could have then.

Brigadier General Ford: The decision was made in the interest of national security. It was a terrible mistake to withhold E, but we are beyond that now. We have done all we can as doctors. We must go on as soldiers. Colonel Daniels: You are going to wipe out the town. You will eradicate that mutation and then your weapons intact [ 9 ] pp. The government orders McClintock to bomb the village to stop the outbreak of the Motaba virus. However, the truth is that the army has already developed vaccines and wants to use the virus as a bioweapon in the future to maximize benefits for the government rather than for the greatest number of human beings.

Nowadays, it is impossible for medical professionals to fully adhere to certain medical ethics. As in the film Outbreak , the government is still the main force for making decisions during the virus pandemic; therefore, if, in real life, any incidents similar to the scenarios in Outbreak occur, many innocent people may be sacrificed because of a decision made based on utilitarian principles, i.

In terms of the real-world scenario of coronavirus disease COVID , the disease has broken out into a global pandemic, causing a crucial challenge to the public health and a heavy burden on healthcare systems [ 26 ]. Medical professionals are morally obliged to act for the good of all patients; they have managed to treat each individual patient fairly and indiscriminately. Hence, in order to save the greatest number of humans, these medical professionals are caught in a dilemma between utilitarian ethics and deontological ethics.

As shown by the government in Outbreak , which deliberately keeps the virus a secret to cover their biowarfare conspiracy, governments weighing economic development against the life of human beings would delay action plans to stop the spread of virus; hence, greater numbers of the population would be infected or sacrificed by the pandemic than would have otherwise been necessary.

Moreover, the delay would also put medical professionals at higher risk of being infected. Utilitarian ethics highlight the consequences of actions [ 12 , 13 ], trying to justify the actions that may bring the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of human beings.

In other words, in order to attain the greatest happiness for the most people, the end is sufficient enough to justify the means; hence, any conventional moral thinking can be ignored [ 12 , 13 , 25 ]. Although some medical professionals are prone to utilitarianism, even if it seems unethical and morally wrong, there are still numerous doctors and medical care professionals worldwide acting correctly in relation to patients, as with Colonel Daniels and his team in Outbreak.

We can hypothesize that, one day, there will be a deadly virus, such as the Motaba virus in the film Outbreak or the present scenario of COVID, and there is a chance that this virus will spread all over the world.

If there is no time or money to develop an antiserum, should we comply with deontological ethics or utilitarianism, choosing the fastest and most efficient way? To reach more just solutions, it is essential for medical professionals to reflect on how to make wise decisions by balancing deontological ethics and utilitarian ethics. As both utilitarian and deontological ethics hold their own perspectives in medical ethics, we cannot expect utilitarianism not to be involved in medical ethics.

However, we can expect that, through education and policies, humans can clearly understand utilitarian ethics and hence strive for the spirit of utilitarianism. In that way medical professionals can reach a balance, not a compromise, to deal with ethical and moral dilemmas and create greater beneficence and justice for patients and humans. By analyzing the scenarios in Outbreak , readers and medical professionals may conceive of a possible real-life viral infection disaster, especially in the present coronavirus outbreak, and might empathize with the ethical dilemmas of making difficult medical and clinical decisions.

When medical professionals manage to address the conflicts between deontological and utilitarian ethics, they may reach a good balance between these ethics and create a more harmonious and justified medical practice for patients and others involved. Conceptualization, P. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Published online Aug Adams Bodomo, Academic Editor. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Received Jul 7; Accepted Aug Abstract Both deontological ethics and utilitarian ethics are important theories that affect decision making in medical and health care. Keywords: medical ethics, deontological ethics, utilitarian ethics, ethical dilemma, public health. Medical Ethics and Ethical Principles Medical ethics is a crucial factor in making decisions regarding any moral or ethical dilemma or conflict, as well as the resulting consequences that medical care professionals may face [ 1 ].

Utilitarian Ethics The founder of modern utilitarian ethics, Jeremy Bentham, introduced in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation [ 12 , 13 ] the principle of utility for the evaluation of appropriate actions.

Colonel Daniels: Biowarfare research is illegal. We signed a treaty Utilitarianism to the Extreme: Brutality and Inhumanity To secure the biowarfare program, under the mask of the utilitarian principle, the characters use a bomb to eradicate the infection. Now revisionist say he dropped the bomb to scare the Russians Colonel Daniel: Those men were at war. We are not. General Major McClintock: We are at war. Everybody is at war. Colonel Daniel: These people are Americans.

Deontological Ethics The philosopher Immanuel Kant [ 17 , 18 , 19 ] introduced the concept of deontological ethics; hence, deontological ethics is also called Kantian deontology. Deontological or Utilitarian? An Eternal Ethical Dilemma In Outbreak , many scenarios present a conflict between deontological and utilitarian ethics.

Colonel Daniels: Why keep me out of there? Though with pain clearly visible on his face, Ford commands his fellow soldiers: Gentlemen, I have in my hand the final authorization to proceed, signed by the president.

Conclusions As both utilitarian and deontological ethics hold their own perspectives in medical ethics, we cannot expect utilitarianism not to be involved in medical ethics. Author Contributions Conceptualization, P.

Funding This research received no external funding. Institutional Review Board Statement Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement Not applicable. Data Availability Statement Not applicable.