In the star studded upcoming movie Contagion, a highly adaptable virus that can jump from one species to another and then mutate rapidly in humans, making itself immune to all efforts to put a stop to it, sweeps rapidly around the globe killing millions of people in a short period of time. But how plausible is that scenario in real life? You might be surprised to know just how close we have come in recent years to situations that were potentially as deadly and horrific.-In 2003, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) began spreading from China into other parts of the world, mainly due to travelers going from country to country on routine business or family visits or vacations. The world has become smaller, in the sense that people now travel rather matter-of-factly, more quickly than in years past, and with little difficulty. While world travel has become commonplace for many of us who regard that as a good thing, the downside is that it makes it easier for the spread of potentially epidemic disease which, if not caught early, can reach all corners of the world before anyone has a chance to stop it.-Parts of the movie Contagion were actually filmed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, where experts went on the record to say that the basic premise of the film is not at all far fetched. An eerily similar situation nearly unfolded in 2009 with the H1N1 influenza outbreak that could have been a lot worse than it was. “We got lucky with that one,” said one expert. “For one thing, it mutated quickly. The vaccines that were produced for that flu season couldn’t protect anyone from H1N1, and there was no warning ahead of time that it would spread so quickly. It turned out not to be as bad as it could have, and for that, we should all feel lucky.”-That doesn’t mean we are out of the woods yet, though. Everyday, new strains of viruses find their way from remote villages where humans contract them from animals, into the human population and then rapidly adjust to our physiology to make themselves more aggressive in jumping from person to person. Also, antibiotics have no effect on viruses; they only work against bacteria. Anti-viral medications are not very effective, since viruses mutate so quickly. So enjoy Contagion in theaters soon, but don’t forget how real it could be.