Benefits: This film is an excellent motivator to interest children in the study of viruses and viral illness. The path of the virus from host animal to its first victims and from there to an entire community is clearly shown in the film. Outbreak has many other positive features. It shows different races working together in harmony, the role of the Centers for Disease Control in containing the spread of infectious disease, the power of society to quarantine persons infected with virulent pathogens, and divorced people who still care for each other. The film also explores the question of whether people exposed to contagious diseases can be killed to protect society as a whole and gives an example of how some people in large organizations can deal ethically with the pressures that are sometimes placed on them.