The Andromeda Strain

 I mentioned that Biosafety level 4 was about the most stringent precautions we could take and still allow work on a pathogenic microbe.

The movie 'The Andromeda Strain' closely based on Michael Crichton's book of the same name poses an intriguing question - what precautions would we need to take if we were faced with an almost unimaginable pathogenic threat - a disease from space that appears lethal and highly contagious?

Although this movie naturally appears a little dated now (movie from 1971, book from 1969) the questions asked actually hold up pretty well today. During the era of space exploration in the 1960's and 1970's did the US ever have an equivalent of 'Project Wildfire'?

I actually think this is one of the better disease movies out there.