Was Contagion based on a real virus? Everything to know

The 2011 procedural horror-thriller Contagion adeptly chronicled how a pandemic could start and unsettle the world at large. The film saw a resurgence in viewership in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although it was popular upon its release, grossing over $130 million worldwide, the once-again-popular pandemic procedural found a new set of audience. The resurgence sparked several questions about the film, such as whether the virus depicted in the movie was based on a real one.

As it turns out, Contagion featured a hypothetical virus they called MEV-1, which was “based in parts” on the Malaysian Nipah virus (1998) and was inspired by its real-life outbreaks.

In the film's final scenes, it is revealed that the virus originated from a bat that infected a pig, which was subsequently cooked and eaten by Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), leading to her infection.

---

The Contagion virus was modeled on the Nipah virus

Although the MEV-1 virus doesn’t exist in real life, the film was well-researched and fact-checked. Director Steven Soderbergh wanted the film to feature scientific and medical realism so he consulted several virologists and scientific personalities and shot parts of the film at the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

And that is why Contagion makes for an eerily accurate foretelling of how an outbreak happens. Dr. Ian Lipkin, the chief medical consultant for the film, who was portrayed by Elliot Gould, was credited for designing the film’s fictional MEV-1 virus.

Talking about the basis and inspiration of the Contagion virus, he told Popular Mechanics in 2011 that it was modeled after the bat-borne Nipah virus. He said:

“There had been recent reports about the Nipah virus, which can spread from bats to pigs to people. Reports were coming in from Bangladesh that there was a human-to-human transmission going on, too, and concerns that the virus might have evolved to become more virulent. And it causes not only respiratory illness, but encephalitis and seizures too. It looked like a winner.”

---

Contagion’s MEV-1 virus vs. real-life

Some parts of the film, however, have incited debates and criticism, like its portrayal of the virus’ speed of transmission and vaccine development.

In the film, the fictional MEV-1 virus killed people within days, but in real life, the incubation of the Nipah virus, which was identified in 1998-99 in Malaysia and caused brain and lung disease in both people and pigs, takes around 1-2 weeks.

Meanwhile, on the vaccine development, Lipkin said:

“One criticism is that the time from identification [of the virus] to a vaccine candidate being identified to distribution is too short. My response to that is first of all, this virus is not going to be grown in fertilized eggs, second of all, it shouldn’t take us that long. We have the technology, using molecular methods.”

Experts have also said that the “outbreak scenario” portrayed in the film is “true to life.” According to CDC’s senior adviser for crisis communication, Barbara Reynolds who was also involved in some discussions with Warner Bros mentioned in a 2011 interview with ABC News:

“How the virus unfolds in the movie is true to life in terms of how a virus behaves.”

Several well-known outbreaks have exhibited similar behaviour to the film’s MEV-1 virus, spreading easily from one continent to another and re-emerging as new strains. The fictional virus also jumped from species to species, which does happen in some real-life viral cases passing between wild animal reservoirs and humans.

---

Where to watch the movie

Contagion is available for streaming on Netflix and Apple TV Plus. Aside from the two streaming platforms, viewers can also purchase or rent the movies on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, AMC on Demand, and Amazon Prime Video.