Title: Infectious diseases, with Dr. Karl Johnson
Date: 1997
Run Time: 46 min.
Names: Johnson, Karl, Great Minds of Medicine series, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract: Part of the Great Minds of Medicine series, this program is an extended interview with Dr. Karl Johnson, an infectious disease specialist with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the 1960s Johnson studied a hemorrhagic fever that had emerged in Bolivia, determining its means of transmission and methods to contain it. Later he confronted the Ebola virus, hantavirus, hemorrhagic fever in the former Soviet Union, lassa fever in Sierra Leone, and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Dr. Johnson discusses his early work in Bolivia, the causes of emerging infectious diseases, and his concern that biological warfare is a significantly greater threat than nuclear or chemical warfare.
Title: American trypanosomiasis: Chagas' disease (Digitized)
Date: 1966
Run Time: 13 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program appears to be designed to aid the physician in establishing a diagnosis of Chagas disease (also known as American trypanosomiasis). Several patients are presented to illustrate various clinical features of the disease in both its acute and chronic phases. The clinical information discussed is based on a study of 1,500 cases over a period of ten years. The signs and symptoms associated with the acute phase are presented first. These include malaise, fever, edema of the eyelid and face, and an enlarged liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. The chest roentgenographic and the electrocardiographic findings are discussed for acute and chronic phases. The possibility of developing megacolon and megasesophagus in the chronic phase is described. After the clinical features of both the acute and chronic phase are presented, the viewer is asked to establish a diagnosis. The geographic distribution of the disease in South and Central America, and the epidemiological features, diagnostic tests, and causative agent of the disease are described.
Title: Chagas: a hidden affliction
Date: 2006
Run Time: 85 min.
Names: Preve, Ricardo
Abstract: This documentary by Ricardo Preve follows his efforts to learn more about Chagas disease after he returns home to northern Argentina following many years away and discovers that a close friend has Chagas. In addition to case studies of patients, information about the parasite that causes the illness, and a look at medical and government efforts to combat the disease in Argentina, the program profiles a Bolivian woman living in Switzerland and a Honduran man living in the U.S., both of whom are infected.
Title: Cholera
Date: 1996
Run Time: 29 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program examines cholera outbreaks in the barrios of Ecuador: causes, practices that help to control it, and the use of an inexpensive, effective treatment known as oral rehydration therapy. Since 1991 cholera has spread rapidly through Central and South America, where it had not been seen in more than 100 years. The appearance of the disease in Britain in the 1800s is also addressed, along with the sewer infrastructure improvements that helped eliminate it by the turn of the 20th century.
Title: Cholera can be conquered (Digitized)
Date: 1946
Run Time: 11 min.
Names: U.S. Navy Epidemiology Unit No. 50
Abstract: This film outlines the work of United States Navy Epidemiology Unit no. 50, which was sent to Calcutta, India in early 1945 to conduct a controlled experiment to determine the value of chemotherapy in the treatment of cholera. Standard bacteriological methods were followed in typing the specific cholera vibrio causing the then-current epidemic in Calcutta. Stool cultures were taken by rectal swab, streaked out on bile-salt agar plates, and incubated for 12 hours. The cholera strains were then typed by the agglutination method. Rabbits were used to produce the specific agglutinating sera. Ninety-five percent of the vibrio present in this epidemic were the Ogawa strain, three percent were the Inaba strain, and two percent were not agglutinable. Patients exhibiting the typical symptoms of cholera--prostration, emaciation, sunken eyes and cheeks, pinched noses, rigor and tremor especially of the lower extremities, and dehydration--are shown lying on cots. Patients exhibit dry, wrinkled, "washerwoman's" hands and feet. Rice-water stools and projectile vomiting drain away the body's fluids, leading to prostration, shock, and death. Dry gangrene is occasionally present. Traditional therapy was oral administration of coconut milk. Injection of saline into collapsed veins to thin "currant jelly" blood had also been tried but with limited success. Good initial results with IM penicillin were obtained. Sulfadiazine administered orally was found to be more effective than penicillin, but recovery was still not assured. The best results were obtained by the IV administration of plasma combined with the oral administration of sulfadiazine. Procedures for keeping U.S. military personnel cholera-free are outlined over footage illustrating good hygiene practices and control of food, water, and toilet facilities. Footage includes: urban, rural, and river scenes in India illustrating the routes of cholera contamination and spread; a funeral pyre; laboratory work in identification of the cholera vibrio; examples of all the patient symptoms and therapies mentioned herein.
Title: Cholera today: bedside evaluation and treatment (Digitized)
Date: 1971
Run Time: 15 min.
Names: Pakistan-SEATO Cholera Research Laboratory
Abstract: This program shows and explains a systematic method for evaluating and treating cholera patients in the Pakistan-SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) Cholera Research Laboratory in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). When patients enter this facility, they are weighed to judge the amount of fluid needed. They are placed on cholera cots and rapidly evaluated. Patients with cholera are presented to aid in the visualization of the clinical manifestations of this disease. The primary goal of treatment is the prompt restoration of lost fluids and salts. In severely dehydrated patients, intravenous infusion of fluids is initiated. Venipuncture techniques for adults and children are briefly described. The rate of infusion as well as the composition of intravenous solution, namely 5 grams per liter of NaCl, 4 grams of NaHCO3, and 1 gram of KCl is detailed. Criteria for discontinuing intravenous therapy and for administering oral fluids as the sole means of restoring fluids are also included. The composition of the oral solution in grams per liter is NaCl 4.2 grams, NaHCO3 4.0 grams, KCl 1.8 grams, and glucose 20.0 grams. Tetracycline or furazolidone is given to stop the diarrhea. Rectal swabs are taken to confirm the diagnosis and to provide accurate public health reporting.
Title: Epidemics and the environment
Date: 1998
Run Time: 29 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program focuses on ecological upheavals that contribute to the rise of deadly disease. Climate change, urbanization, clear-cutting of forests, and other factors are examined. Disease case studies include cholera in Peru, plague in India, and Lyme disease in the United States.
Title: Apocalypse bug
Date: 1997
Run Time: 50 min.
Names:
Abstract: This five-segment CNN presentation examines antibiotic-resistant bacteria and deadly viruses such as dengue, HIV, and Ebola. The Deadly Bite piece focuses on cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever in Puerto Rico and Central and South America, attributed to the "urbanization of the tropics," while Revenge of the Rain Forest examines Ebola outbreaks in Africa. Other pieces look at staphylococcus bacteria and the search for an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) vaccine. The presentation follows epidemiologists into the field and researchers into the lab.
Title: 48 hours in the danger zone
Date: 1994
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: 48 Hours
Abstract: This episode of CBS's 48 Hours program discusses newly discovered viruses such as Ebola and Marburg and the potentially devastating effects of an outbreak of the diseases they cause. It reports on an incident in which some lab employees became infected with an Ebola virus; this particular strain was not pathogenic to humans. The piece shows a public health official visiting a remote area of Indonesia where the native people harbor a unique retrovirus. It also addresses an outbreak of hantavirus infections in the southwestern United States, the possible role of ecosystem changes in the spread of infectious disease, and the problems posed by increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. Tape features five commercial interruptions, ca. 2 min. each.
Title: Ebola hemorrhagic fever
Date: 1997
Run Time: 24 min.
Names:
Abstract: Incorporating video footage recorded during Ebola outbreaks in Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, this program is targeted to the general public living in areas at risk for Ebola. It presents information on the virus in three segments, including one on epidemiology and case definitions; a second on care within the community and home, including identification and management of cases; and a third section examining outbreak investigation and epidemiological surveillance.
Title: Ebola war: the nurses of Gulu
Date: 2002
Run Time: 46 min.
Names: St. Mary's Hospital (Gulu, Uganda)
Abstract: This program describes a five-month period in 2000-2001 during which the Ebola virus infected hundreds of people in the Gulu area of northern Uganda. Staff at the local hospital struggled to treat the sick, unsure what was causing the illness. After Ebola was confirmed, most nurses weren't willing to serve on the Ebola ward; some volunteered and worked the entire duration of the outbreak, as there were few replacements available. Eventually, medical personnel and supplies arrived from overseas, and the virus was contained. Twelve nurses and the medical superintendent from nearby St. Mary's Hospital died during the course of the outbreak. The experiences of the Gulu nurses and others are presented using interviews, personal accounts and archival footage.
Title: Ebola: chasing the virus
Date: 1998
Run Time: 52 min.
Names: World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract: Presents the efforts of mainly French scientists and researchers based in Africa and working for the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pasteur Institute, and other organizations to identify a mysterious virus that first emerges in 1976 along the Ebola River in Zaire (since 1997 known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In 1992, colonies of monkeys in Ivory Coast became ill, and the virus soon appeared in a human health worker. Efforts to pinpoint the reservoir of the virus are chronicled, along with the assisting efforts of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and face-to-face work with villagers who have fallen ill after eating or handling contaminated monkey meat.
Title: Ebola: the diary of a killer
Date: 1998
Run Time: 61 min.
Names: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract: This program chronicles a 1995 Ebola outbreak in Zaire (since 1997 known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in the town of Kikwit. Eighty percent of those infected died, including health care workers who had participated in an operation on a patient who had the virus, and many others who continued to care for the sick. It chronicles efforts to identify the source of illness, led by local physicians and scientists, as well as the involvement of Belgian medical authorities and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Current research, the virus's possible reemergence, and preparations by the international medical community for future outbreaks are addressed.
Title: Plague fighters
Date: 1996
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: NOVA series
Abstract: This episode of PBS's NOVA series focuses on the 1995 Ebola outbreak in the Kikwit area of Zaire (since 1997 known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). It notes that the epidemic was not brought under control until village elders allowed the abandonment of ritual burial practices, which involved touching the corpse. The program addresses the large number of Kikwit-area health care personnel who died of the virus and chronicles little-known virus outbreaks in the west (Marburg, Germany, 1967 and Reston, Virginia, U.S., 1989). It also details scientists' efforts to determine which animal or insect serves as Ebola's natural host, and how the virus jumps to humans. Treatments attempted by local doctors against the advice of the international aid team that came to Zaire to help rein in the outbreak are also described.
Title: The virus hunters
Date: 2007
Run Time: 45 min.
Names: Jones, Steven, World Health Organization
Abstract: This program opens with a look at the fight against infectious disease that began in earnest following World War II, and which brought many deadly diseases under control. It notes that efforts have been less effective against viruses than against bacterial infection. Emerging viruses such as Marburg, Ebola, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and West Nile are examined, including the work of Steven Jones, a scientist with the World Health Organization (WHO) who is sent to Angola to contain an outbreak of Marburg. The film notes that close to 75 percent of new human diseases are transmitted by animals, and follows veterinarian Kristine Smith as she conducts field research in Mongolia, working to better understand the transmission of avian flu.
Title: Body snatchers: Micro-parasites: invisible death
Date: 2004
Run Time: 50 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program examines recent outbreaks of parasitic or parasite-borne illnesses, including lassa fever in Sierra Leone, Ebola in the Congo, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong, and West Nile virus, tuberculosis, and bubonic plague in North America and Europe.
Title: Guinea worm: the end of the road
Date: 1992
Run Time: 28 min.
Names: Carter, James E., Hopkins, Donald, World Health Organization
Abstract: This program profiles an initiative launched in the early 1980s by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the World Health Organization (WHO), and others. The objective was the eradication of guinea worm in the regions where it was still endemic -- parts of India and Pakistan and 17 countries in Africa -- using as a model WHO's successful smallpox eradication campaign. Filtering drinking water, chemically treating stagnant ponds, and other methods of prevention in villages in Ghana and Benin are shown. Commentary by Dr. Donald Hopkins and other participants from Western nations is also included.
Title: Yoro, the empty granary
Date: 1995
Run Time: 21 min.
Names:
Abstract: "Yoro" means empty basket in the Dogon language; guinea worm is referred to as yoro because those who are ill from guinea worm infection are unable to work in the fields at harvest time. This program features images of African villagers suffering from guinea worm, removing the worms from their bodies, and treating their sores with disinfectant. It discusses transmission modes, symptoms, the life cycle of the worm, and means of prevention, noting that the worm is entirely dependent on humans to perpetuate itself, and that the cycle can be interrupted with the proper education and tools.
Title: Compassionate exile
Date: 2001
Run Time: 52 min.
Names:
Abstract: Through oral interviews, archival images, letters, and commentary, this program presents the story of four former patients in the leprosarium on Makogai, an island in Fiji. Patients recall the circumstances of their removal from their families and transport to Makogai, and images of the physical effects of the disease are shown. The general history of the leprosarium and the role of Catholic nuns in providing care are documented. The film includes footage of the four patients returning to the island for a visit in 1999 (the compound was closed in 1969 when a new hospital opened near Fiji's capital, Suva).
Title: Healing of M'Vondo
Date: 1939
Run Time: 24 min.
Names: United Presbyterian Mission
Abstract: With scenes of natural beauty and village life in the African countryside, this film tells the story of an African child named M'Vondo in Cameroon who contracted leprosy and was cured. We also see the varied, busy life of the missionary leprosy village where the child's cure was effected. Shots include: exterior of mission hospital; leprosy lesions on M'Vondo; the leper colony (United Presbyterian Mission); the boy being injected at the mission dispensary; surgery in the mission's operating room; woodworking, brick making, and building with bricks and mortar, all by mission patients; the more seriously afflicted doing basketry and weaving, metal work and pottery; lepers going to church, attending school classes, and at recreation, playing ball, cartwheels, races and leapfrog; being entertained by musicians and acrobats; and the final physical examination before dismissal.
Title: Island of the lepers
Date: 1995
Run Time: 16 min.
Names: Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary
Abstract: In 1911, tribal chiefs in Fiji decided to banish all those suffering from leprosy to the Fijian island of Makogai. This program describes life on that island, the work of the Catholic order of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary, who tended patients, and the story of one patient in particular, Poluteli, a Tongan who lived on Makogai. The film includes an interview with a Missionary Sister as well as archival film and stills.
Title: Leprosy can be cured
Date: 1986
Run Time: 58 min.
Names: Brand, Paul, Young, Richard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NOVA series
Abstract: This NOVA production focuses on the history of leprosy and its evolution from scourge and stigma to curable disease. While there are still 15 million people worldwide with the disease, current drug treatments can fully cure leprosy. The show begins in India, where poverty and malnutrition contribute to leprosy rates, particularly in the Tamil Nadu region. A missionary research center and hospital in Karigiri, India, was founded 50 years ago to treat people with the disease, and continues to do so. Also mentioned in this production is the National Hansen's Disease Center located in Carville, Louisiana, U.S. Dr. Paul Brand, Chief of Rehabilitation at Carville, explains how leprosy affects the nerves. The program discusses the various drug treatments used to eliminate leprosy, as well as the search for a vaccine led by Dr. Richard Young at the Whitehead Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Based on genetic engineering, the vaccine would be a preventative agent.
Title: Leprosy in India
Date: 19uu
Run Time: 12 min.
Names:
Abstract: Manifestations of leprosy from beginning to end stages are shown in this silent film. Images are interspersed with title slides in German, informing the viewer that he/she is seeing cases of nerve damage, skin damage, loss of extremities, and other effects of the disease. People are shown receiving injections, washing, and exercising as part of their treatment.
Title: Purulia pilgrimage
Date: 1952
Run Time: 21 min.
Names: Miller, Marjorie A.M.
Abstract: Dr. Marjorie A.M. Miller made a cinematographic record of her visit to the largest missionary home and hospital for lepers in India, at Purulia in Bihar. Footage includes scenes of a man and his little daughter arriving at the compound and being examined by staff, of patients making baskets, spinning and carding fiber, knitting, and crushing bricks. A blacksmith patient is shown making gardening tools. Patients dress the grave of Dr. Edward David Landeman. Patients are photographed making sandals from discarded rubber tires. Non-leprous children of leprous parents are shown in the Healthy Children's Home playing and eating. The lepers are seen being given a meal in metal dishes on the ground outdoors. A new patient is given a haircut, then takes a bath in a fishing pool. Patients are seen working in the gardens, working the irrigation channels, and exhibiting their vegetable produce. The treatment for leprosy used in this hospital is chaulmoogra oil by injection. A patient is shown being injected. Little boy patients are seen working in their garden, and celebrating because one of the boys has been healed and moves to the Healthy Boys' Home. The male patients harvest rice and thresh it, and the women winnow it. A harvest festival, the distribution of weekly cash and rice, and Christmas celebrations are shown. The Christian foundation of the home and hospital is stressed throughout the film. A plea is made at the end of the film for contributions to the American Leprosy Missions.
Title: The happy village
Date: 1939
Run Time: 29 min.
Names:
Abstract: Portrays the daily life and activities among the lepers at the Chandkhuri mission in India. Shots include: street scene in Calcutta, India with lepers begging; Chandkhuri village (mission) for lepers, including fellowship, giving tests for leprosy diagnosis, medical treatment of injections of chaulmoogra oil, nursing, lepers working at typical household tasks, outdoors at a stone quarry, building, road repair, well-digging, farming, and making clothing, including dyeing, weaving, sewing. Shots also include: the ceremony of eating new rice, church attendance, and graduation from the colony.
Title: The new face of leprosy
Date: 2003
Run Time: 48 min.
Names:
Abstract: This documentary uses case studies from India, Ethiopia, Brazil, and Japan to illustrate the symptoms and treatment of leprosy in modern times, including pharmaceutical treatment and corrective surgery. Multidrug therapy can cure leprosy, stop its transmission, and prevent disfigurement, but physical and social problems associated with the disease persist. The program addresses the continuing rejection, isolation, and violation of human rights of leprosy patients, noting that since the development of effective treatments beginning in the 1960s, many victims have been cured, but are still stigmatized. The program profiles leprosy victims who have lost job opportunities and been isolated by their families, despite being fully cured; it also highlights programs that have been established to combat these conditions and attitudes.
Title: The story of the Bibanga Leper Camp
Date: 1938
Run Time: 18 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film shows a leper colony in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and points out that the patients become self-supporting during treatment. The film captures lepers learning to build their own houses, learning trades, and tending their gardens. The film also describes the making of chaulmoogra oil from the fruit of the hydrocarpus tree for use in the treatment of the disease. Scenes include: Christian church at the leper colony; patients weaving, tailoring, making pottery, blacksmithing, and building houses; children at play; crop cultivation; making medicine from their crop; injection of medicine; and church services.
Title: Intestinal roundworm infection
Date: 1959
Run Time: 31 min.
Names: Pfizer Inc.
Abstract: Published by Pfizer Inc. and filmed on location in Costa Rica, this program reviews the epidemiology of common helminthic infection, with detailed descriptions of the life cycles of ascaris, trichuris, enterobius, and strongyloides. Clinical aspects of these worm infestations are demonstrated, including symptoms, physical findings, pathology, diagnostic techniques, and therapy.
Title: The story of Kyasanur Forest disease
Date: 2006 [Note: events take place in 1950s]
Run Time: 71 min.
Names: Buescher, Edward, Edsall, Geoffrey, Work, Telford H., Rockefeller Foundation, Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Abstract: The Story of Kyasanur Forest Disease was filmed and narrated by Telford H. Work. The film takes place in 1956 and investigates an outbreak of monkey fever in the Kyasanur Forest of India. Dr. Work was with the Rockefeller Foundation at the Virus Research Center in Poona, India at the time. The Center received a report that monkeys were dying in the forest; Dr. Work and a team were sent to investigate. The film shows how they discovered the disease, the procedures they followed, and how symptoms were tracked once humans began to fall ill. It also demonstrates the evolution in researchers' thinking, from a belief that they were dealing with yellow fever to the realization that this was an altogether new virus. The film shows the development of a vaccine at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center under the direction of Dr. Geoffrey Edsall and Dr. Edward Buescher. Other scenes include a monkey autopsy, extensive laboratory work, microscopic slides, tick collection, Jog Falls, Dr. Edsall, Dr. Buescher, and building a dam by hand.
Title: Lassa fever
Date: 1983
Run Time: 57 min.
Names: Church of the Brethren Mission
Abstract: The program is a dramatization, using actors, of the efforts of doctors and missionaries to diagnose and treat a mysterious fever-inducing illness in a missionary nurse in the Lassa area of Nigeria in 1969. The patient is flown to Lagos, the Church of the Brethren missionary headquarters in the U.S. is notified, and doctors struggle to identify the illness, how it was contracted, which animals may carry it, how it spreads among humans, and what treatment to offer. [Note: This tape is in poor condition, much of it not viewable, though sound/narration is clear throughout.]
Title: Filariasis in British Guiana (Digitized)
Date: 1963
Run Time: 17 min.
Names: Technical Assistance Development Organization
Abstract: The purpose of this presentation is to explain the filariasis problem in British Guiana and to urge the cooperation of residents in the joint research and control program established by the governments of British Guiana and the United States. The work of the Technical Assistance Development Organization (TADO) is described and illustrated in detail. The epidemiological and socioeconomic factors are discussed and the treatment program is described. In this presentation clinical subjects are first presented and their lifestyle is described. The crippling effects of filaria are discussed and demonstrated. The life cycle of the filaria is then described and illustrated, and histologic slides are presented which demonstrate the presence of the parasite in the blood. The diagnostic use of the nocturnal blood smear is described and demonstrated in considerable detail. The program then focuses on the work done by individual doctors, and the later research and control work of TADO is illustrated. The use of posters, pamphlets, lectures, conferences, and discussion groups in efforts to educate the public in the epidemiological and therapeutic aspects of this disease is discussed. The work of the night survey teams that go from house to house collecting blood samples from each member of the family and the work of the epidemiological teams in collecting mosquitoes for examination and spraying breeding places are presented in detail. The therapeutic use of several antihelminthic drugs is also discussed and described.
Title: Filariasis in the Fiji islands, part 1
Date: 1950
Run Time: 24 min.
Names: Work, Telford
Abstract: This is a Telford Work film. It shows scientists capturing mosquitoes, drawing blood from patients to put on slides, then looking at both blood and mosquitoes under the microscope to see the nematodes that cause filariasis. Surgery is performed to remove a tissue sample for examination, and swollen tissue on another patient is opened and drained. Groups of people are being shown the link between mosquitoes and the disease.
Title: Lymphatic filariasis: hope for a better life (Digitized)
Date: 2000
Run Time: 21 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program describes and demonstrates simple, inexpensive procedures and treatments to manage filariasis, an illness for which the chief symptom is swelling -- sometimes massive -- of limbs, breasts, and genitals. Occurring mainly in the tropics, it is the second leading cause of disability in the world, and is caused by worms that are spread from person to person by mosquitoes. The program explains that washing the affected areas with soap and water can prevent germs that worsen the symptoms from entering the body through cuts and scrapes. Washing is followed by application of a disinfectant. Gentle exercises move fluid out of the limbs, and elevating limbs while sitting or sleeping also helps. Afflicted patients are shown applying the techniques.
Title: A long night with lethal guests
Date: 1987
Run Time: 52 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film concentrates on the spread and treatment of malaria in Papua New Guinea. Significant variations in climate and elevation in this area traditionally resulted in wide variations in the prevalence of and resistance to the disease (common in lowlands, virtually unknown in the highlands), although this pattern has changed. The film notes that as white people moved into tropical locales, often as missionaries, they were exposed to malaria and suffered high death rates, spurring western medical research into the causes and treatments of the disease. Problems with mosquito eradication efforts are presented; e.g. DDT killed insects that ate caterpillars, and an uncontrolled caterpillar population then chewed through and destroyed the villagers' thatched huts. The program follows Australian medical researchers in Papua New Guinea as they analyze the disease and its drug-resistant strains, treat the sick, try to prevent transmission, and work to develop a vaccine.
Title: Animation education (Digitized)
Date: 1988 [Note: this is a compilation of films produced in the 1940s.]
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: United States Information Agency
Abstract: This videotape consists of four animated films: Easy Does It, Winky the Watchman, Cleanliness Brings Health, and The Winged Scourge. The first film, Easy Does It, (1946--25 min.) is an advertisement for Stokely foods. Based on the premise that quality canned foods sell in grocery stores, the film follows the process of growing, canning, and marketing food. The second film, Winky the Watchman, (1950s--10 min.) begins with children visiting the dentist's office. The dentist relates the story of Winky the watchman whose job it is to guard the fortress wall of teeth. When Winky falls asleep, the "badums" of tooth decay decide to invade. Winky wakes up just in time to rally the "goodums" to save the wall. The third film, Cleanliness Brings Health, (1944--16 min.) is a Walt Disney production made for the United States Information Agency for use in Latin America. The film compares a "happy" family with a "careless" family and focuses on cleanliness in food preparation, houses, sewage, and other sanitary issues. The fourth film, The Winged Scourge, (1944--10 min.) is about the malaria mosquito. The film describes malaria, how it is transferred to humans, and how it can be prevented.
Title: Army medical laboratories (Digitized)
Date: 1947
Run Time: 39 min.
Names: Army Medical Department, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Abstract: This film presents an overview of the organization and functions of United States Army medical laboratories in the United States and overseas during World War II. The mission of the laboratories was to prevent, detect, and control epidemics, and to heal and rehabilitate the American soldier. Clinical, public health, and research laboratories are discussed. Within the army surgeon general's office, the work of fulfilling that mission was carried out among the following divisions: laboratory, epidemiology, sanitation and hygiene, venereal disease control, and training and hospital divisions. The Army Medical Department research and graduate school and the Army Institute of Pathology (now the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) were an important part of the effort. In preparation for war, the first task was to train field and hospital laboratory units and train technical personnel. The locations of the hundreds of training and treatment facilities in the United States are shown on maps. The work of the following laboratories is outlined and their personnel, equipment, and interiors shown: service command, bacteriology, serology, veterinary (which tested animal products for human consumption), chemistry, toxicology, clinical, and histo-pathologic. After they were trained in the zone of the interior, workers were assigned to combat and communications zones. Organizational charts of army medical laboratories in combat and communications zones are shown, as are the exteriors and interiors of some of those laboratories with personnel at work. Efforts to control scrub typhus, louse-borne typhus, and malaria are outlined. The work of the Army Institute of Pathology is presented over footage of work going on in its various sections, as is the work of the Atomic Bomb Research Section and the army research and graduate school. Shots include: 8th Evacuation Hospital, Italy; 300th General Hospital, Italy; 15th Medical General Laboratory; spraying civilians to control louse-borne typhus; ditching, spraying, oiling, and dusting to control mosquitoes, spraying DDT from an airplane; tent hospitals and laboratories in Pacific jungles; 18th Medical General Laboratory, Hawaii; Antilles department headquarters laboratory, Puerto Rico.
Title: Blue jacket holiday (Digitized)
Date: 1990 [compilation of WWII-era films]
Run Time: 77 min.
Names: National Archives and Records Administration, United States Army, Pictorial Service
Abstract: A collection of films, some created by the United States Army Pictorial Service, cobbled together at the National Archives. About half the films have some medical relevance. Rumors is an animated Private Snafu cartoon about what happens when a rumor is spread on a military base. The set of Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike animated films are about military preparations to fight malaria, and appear twice in the film list. Target Snafu is about ignoring malaria prevention precautions. The Enemy Bacteria is a color film with animated segments about cleanliness. It shows slides of microscopic bacteria and describes what happens when bacteria are allowed to grow.
Title: Calista E. Causey, Sc.D (Digitized)
Date: 1979
Run Time: 59 min.
Names: Causey, Calista E., Shope, Robert E., American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Rockefeller Foundation, Instituto Evandro Chagas
Abstract: This program, produced in collaboration with the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, presents an interview with Calista E. Causey, Sc.D., by Robert E. Shope, M.D. Dr. Causey recalls her years on a wife-husband team with the field team of the Rockefeller Foundation. Their work, carried out in conjunction with the Instituto Evandro Chagas in Brazil, and later in Ibaden, Nigeria, led to the discovery of significant virus/vector/host relationships. The team worked to eradicate Anopheles gambiense from Brazil, and later studied various arthropod diseases. Numerous viruses were discovered, particularly Group C arboviruses. Dr. Causey praises the Rockefeller Foundation, which allowed its field teams to work under optimal conditions for finding causes and solutions to epidemiologic problems.
Title: Criminal at large (Digitized)
Date: 1943
Run Time: 14 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film is an animated filmograph describing the danger of malaria transmission by the Anopheles mosquito. A cub reporter is depicted trying to investigate the story of "Anna Awful" (anopheles), an evil femme fatale of sorts who is sickening and terrorizing people. As the reporter gathers "the scoop," we see shots that include: diagrams of eggs, larva, and pupa, the difference between male and female adults, the way the female transmits malaria organisms, and the difference between Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Culex mosquitoes.
Title: Demystifying medicine, malaria: big killer and big advances
Date: 2008
Run Time: 1 hr 53 min.
Names: Robbins, John B., Wellems, Thomas E., Demystifying Medicine series National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
Abstract: Part of the Demystifying Medicine series at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this lecture by Thomas E. Wellems of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and John B. Robbins of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) focuses on: 1) public health measures to combat malaria, and 2) efforts to develop an effective vaccine. Wellems's presentation, "Malaria: History, Burden, and State of the Science" begins with a patient case study and includes a look at the use of bed-netting to control infection, the appearance of chloroquine resistance and the mutations that lead to it, and the importance of alternatives to chloroquine in regions where malaria is still prevalent. Robbins notes that there is good potential for cheap, easy-to-manufacture vaccines that could apply at different stages of transmission and illness. He emphasizes that malaria in Africa is a major cause of stunted growth in children, and renders infected children susceptible to other maladies including pneumococcal meningitis. Thus, vaccine development is critical to prevent long-term health impacts in the population.
Title: Demystifying medicine, malaria: the number one killer
Date: 2006
Run Time: 2 hr 8 min.
Names: Fairhurst, Rick M., Wellems, Thomas E., Demystifying Medicine series, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Abstract: Part of the Demystifying Medicine series at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this lecture by Thomas E. Wellems and Rick M. Fairhurst of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) examines the worldwide history of malaria, its current prevalence, cause, and treatments, those factors which confer resistance or immunity in humans, and the rise of chloroquine-resistant strains of malaria. A case study of a 30-year-old American male who contracted malaria after travel to Africa and South America is presented. The still-high death rate in parts of Africa in children under five is discussed, as are genetic factors that help determine the severity of the illness. Lecturers note that the sickle trait confers resistance and is common in African populations, but absent in Southeast Asia.
Title: L. T. Coggeshall, M.D. (Digitized)
Date: 1971
Run Time: 55 min.
Names: Bowers, John Z., Coggeshall, Lowell T., University of Chicago, Rockefeller Foundation, Leaders in American Medicine series, Department of Health and Human Services
Abstract: This presentation presents a biographical memoir of the life and career of Dr. Lowell T. Coggeshall, Professor of Medicine and Vice President and Trustee of the University of Chicago. Dr. Coggeshall is interviewed by Dr. John Z. Bowers, President of Alpha Omega Alpha, National Honor Medical Society. In this presentation Dr. Bowers first briefly describes the series, Leaders in American Medicine. He then introduces and discusses his first meeting with Dr. Coggeshall at a lecture on malaria in 1939. Dr. Coggeshall describes his interest in malaria, which led to his study of medicine and later became a focal point in his career. After graduation from medical school he received an internship at the University of Chicago, then worked with the Rockefeller Foundation on immunity and a malaria vaccine. During World War II, his knowledge of malaria and tropical diseases led to his involvement in establishing malaria controls for personnel setting up secret air routes to China and Africa. Upon completion of his work for the Armed Forces he become Professor of Tropical Diseases and later Dean of the Biological Division at the University of Michigan. He describes his government service as an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), now the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr. Coggeshall then discusses innovations and changes in medical education and federal funding of medical schools.
Title: Malaria: fever wars
Date: 2005
Run Time: 120 min.
Names: Hill, Adrian, Kombo, Peter, Sachs, Jeffery
Abstract: This program profiles four individuals in different parts of the world, working to combat malaria and the international apathy towards it. Jeffrey Sachs, an economist, tries to develop financial support from wealthy western nations, and is seen unsuccessfully engaging these governments to provide relatively small amounts of money to poverty-stricken countries. Peter Kombo, the chief of an isolated Kenyan village, does his best to get treatment for sick villagers, many of whom succumb. Adrian Hill, an Oxford University professor, is the head of a group of scientists working to develop a vaccine against malaria. Despite a successful trial in England, the group must return to the drawing board after an unsuccessful trial in Gambia. Finally, the documentary follows Gary Goode, a mosquito expert in Florida who assists Palm Beach County when the area suffers an unexpected outbreak of malaria.
Title: Martin D. Young, Sc.D. (Digitized)
Date: 1979
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: Young, Martin D., Workers in Tropical Medicine series, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract: This program, from the Workers in Tropical Medicine series produced by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), presents a biographical interview with Dr. Martin D. Young. The presentation is a well-organized discussion of the history of malaria research in social and medical contexts, including thoughtful projections for the future by an expert in medical research, education, and development.
Title: Medical service for industry
Date: 1954
Run Time: 26 min.
Names: Standard Oil
Abstract: This film, produced by Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, explains the corporation's approach to company-provided medical services for employees in its hundreds of locations around the world. Because climate, culture, and type and prevalence of disease vary so widely, tailored approaches are called for. The Standard Oil program is described as a four-point effort: preventive, constructive, educative, and curative medicine. Giving examples of each, the film discusses an anti-malaria campaign in Venezuela, amoebic dysentery in Aruba, research and action regarding chemical health hazards, the need for regular physical and mental examinations, and more.
Title: Muzungu in the mist
Date: 2009
Run Time: 61 min.
Names: Royall, Julia, National Library of Medicine, MedlinePlus
Abstract: This is a recording of a talk given by Julia Royall, Chief of International Programs at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), who has long been involved in health issues in Africa. Having spent a year in Uganda as a Fulbright Scholar (2007-2008), Royall explains the diverse projects she tackled, ranging from measuring knowledge about malaria in a small village without electricity to planning a videoconference between Ugandan medical students in the capital city of Kampala and National Institutes of Health (NIH) malaria researchers in Bethesda. The major disease burden in Uganda is malaria; it results in 70,000 to 110,000 deaths a year, followed by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) with nearly 80,000 deaths. Another focal point was an interactive tutorial on malaria, presented in four languages. Created by students, faculty, and Ugandan artists, and vetted by people in the village, this highly-praised consumer resource, a version of NIH's consumer health resource, MedlinePlus, is now located at www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/africa.
Title: Pacific enemy number two, malaria (Digitized)
Date: 1944
Run Time: 10 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film, once restricted to viewing by authorized personnel only, outlines the way the United States military fought malaria in the islands of the South Pacific during World War II. Malaria was recognized as a major military medical problem. A coordinated triple attack against the disease in the South Pacific included medical, engineering, and entomological aspects. Entomologists were sent to the areas in question and took a careful census of the mosquito population. Illustrative footage is shown. Scientists examine mosquito larvae scooped up in water samples. Seabees then come in and blast open waterways to drain standing water, dig drainage ditches, cut down underbrush, and oil spray waters that cannot be drained. Sluice gates are built so that streams may be periodically flushed out. Screens are put up on living and working quarters and kept in good repair. Little village boys are taught to spray insecticides in their family homes. The medical officer passes out atabrine pills to the native villagers. In rainy climates, mosquitoes will breed in such man-made depressions as ruts, abandoned roads, blocked ditches, and fox and shell holes. Bulldozers then must come in and smooth over the depressions. Precautions to be taken to avoid getting malaria are given over footage of troops demonstrating good prophylactic behavior. This includes keeping their shirt sleeves rolled down and their shirts buttoned, using plenty of insect repellent on areas of exposed skin, using mosquito netting and insect spray, and taking atabrine tablets regularly. To be successful, this program had to eliminate mosquito breeding places, control malaria reservoirs in the native population, and prevent and control malaria in American troops. Shots include: a village and villagers on a Pacific island; military physicians palpating the swollen abdomens of natives; troops with malaria in sick bay in a jungle village; typical malaria breeding areas of swamps and jungles; troops on the move, in battle, and at rest in the jungle; and Headquarters Malaria Control South Pacific.
Title: Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike (Digitized)
Date: 1944
Run Time: 5 min.
Names: Malaria Mike, Private Snafu
Abstract: This cartoon video was used to educate soldiers in malaria prevention during World War II. Malaria Mike is a mosquito who repeatedly attacks Private Snafu in an effort to infect the soldier. The mosquito is temporarily foiled because of Snafu's use of clothing, repellent, and mosquito netting.
Title: Science safari
Date: 2006
Run Time: 57 min.
Names: Alda, Alan
Abstract: In this PBS program, actor Alan Alda tours South Africa, visiting a wildlife park, a township that uses herbs to treat illnesses, and an archaeological dig near Cape Town. He also investigates how South Africa is trying to control the mosquito population in an effort to eradicate malaria.
Title: Soldier from the tropics (Digitized)
Date: 1943
Run Time: 10 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film dramatizes transmission of malaria and shows diagnosis and control of malaria outbreaks in an unnamed American town. The story begins with a soldier home from the tropics who has been infected with malaria while on duty. He begins to feel better, so does not continue with his prescribed medication. Bitten by mosquitoes at home, which then bite others, he unwittingly helps to spread the disease. Town leaders and physicians are shown discussing and diagnosing the outbreak, and taking measures to rid the town of Anopheles.
Title: The complete, uncensored Private Snafu cartoons from World War II. Volume 1 (Digitized)
Date: 1990 [compilation of WWII-era films]
Run Time: 62 min.
Names: Private Snafu
Abstract: This video contains fourteen World War II-era cartoons used to educate service persons on various topics. The cartoons focus on the adventures of Private Snafu (situation normal, all fouled up). Situations include rumors and spies, goldbricking, gripes, using a gas mask, and using weapons. Several medical situations are highlighted, such as soldiers getting injections, feigning sickness, and malaria prevention.
Title:
The complete, uncensored Private Snafu cartoons from World War II. Volume 2. (Digitized)
Date: 1992 [compilation of WWII-era films]
Run Time: 73 min.
Names: Private Snafu
Abstract: This video contains fourteen World War II-era cartoons used to educate service persons on various topics. The cartoons focus on the adventures of Private Snafu (situation normal, all fouled up). Situations include censoring letters, payday, observing from outposts, and being prepared. Several medical situations are highlighted, such as the physiological effects of fear, the malaria mosquito, and malaria ward.
Title: The toxin that will not die
Date: 2001
Run Time: 28 min.
Names:
Abstract: This documentary explores the continuing use of DDT to battle malaria in India, even though the pesticide has proven toxic and is no longer effective against the mosquitoes. This film exposes the power of the pesticide industry, worth billions of dollars in India.
Title: The trouble with malaria
Date: 1998
Run Time: 46 min.
Names: Suzuki, David
Abstract: This documentary narrated by David Suzuki, a Canadian scientist, environmentalist, and broadcaster, investigates the challenges that researchers, scientists and the world population face in combating malaria. In the 1950s, with the help of insecticides such as DDT, malaria declined steeply in the Western world and a good portion of developing nations. The drug chloroquine was widely distributed, providing effective treatment to those who did fall ill. Yet by the 1970s, the malaria parasite began mutating into a drug-resistant form. This program explores a particularly deadly drug-resistant strain found along the Thailand-Burma border. Climate change and other ecological disruptions, and increased mobility of the world's populations, also have contributed to climbing infection rates. Researchers' efforts to develop an effective malaria vaccine are profiled.
Title: Missing out
Date: 2001
Run Time: 28 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program explores malnutrition and disease, particularly iron deficiency and anemia, in the African nations of Niger and Tanzania. Anemia is rampant in both countries, in part because of high rates of malaria. Malaria both causes and exacerbates anemia, resulting in a pronounced weakening of the body. Efforts to distribute micromultinutrient pills, particularly to pregnant women, are chronicled.
Title: Mosquito wars
Date: 1998
Run Time: 30 min.
Names:
Abstract: This documentary focuses on two diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, malaria and dengue fever, both of which are on the rise again after several decades of mosquito eradication with DDT, a practice largely abandoned. Global warming is also a contributor; populations at higher, traditionally cooler elevations, where people have not developed any immunity to these diseases, are now being exposed. The malaria parasite and dengue virus also have developed resistance to medications such as chloroquine, used to treat malaria. The work of the Australian army against malaria in Papua New Guinea is highlighted, as are anti-dengue efforts in Puerto Rico and initiatives against dengue hemorrhagic fever in Thailand. The film explores research into biological and genetic weapons against disease, including the possibility of delivering small amounts of malaria vaccine via mosquito bite.
Title: Man versus microbes
Date: 1997
Run Time: 59 min.
Names: National Hansen's Disease Center, Science Times, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, World Health Organization, Ballou, W. Ripley, Kremsner, Peter, Caplan, Arthur, Krahenbuhl, James, Olle, Jaime, Saunderson, Paul, Bloom, Barry
Abstract: This Science Times program examines malaria, smallpox, leprosy, tuberculosis, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Col. W. Ripley Ballou at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research discusses the malaria lab's research. Peter Kremsner talks about the demographics of malaria and its concentration in Africa. Scenes show doctors treating children with quinine in Gabon. The segment on smallpox details the World Health Organization's (WHO) successful campaign to eradicate smallpox. Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist, relates the pros and cons of storing the smallpox virus. In the next segment, James Krahenbuhl discusses the National Hansen's Disease Center and its effort to stop the spread of leprosy. Patients are interviewed. In another part of the segment, Jaime Olle and Paul Saunderson describe the treatment of leprosy in Ethiopia. Barry Bloom explains the development of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis and how patients with HIV/AIDS are particularly vulnerable to these strains. The final segment is on the emergence of Creutzfeld-Jakob disease variants in Britain. Commercials have been blacked out on the tape, so the viewer must continue to run the tape in order to watch all the segments.
Title: Parasites: eating us alive
Date: 2001
Run Time: 45 min.
Names: Coyne, Philip, Despommier, Dickson, Leiby, David, Columbia University, U.S. Public Health Service, Red Cross
Abstract: This documentary examines three major categories of parasites: single-celled, multicellular (worms), and ectoparasites, those that live on the body as opposed to inside it. Among the parasite-caused tropical diseases mentioned are filariasis, elephantiasis, onchocerciasis (river blindness), and malaria. Also discussed are hookworms, tapeworms, guinea worms, and an outbreak of cryptosporidium in 1993 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., that sickened thousands of people. Dr. Philip Coyne of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University, and Dr. David Leiby of the Red Cross discuss how these organisms proliferate through vectors, how they adapt to different hosts, treatments old and new, and the case study of one South American woman who nearly died from a severe case of malaria. Interviews with victims and footage of parasitic damage are combined with commentary.
Date: 1963
Run Time: 5 min.
Names: Gorgas Memorial Institute
Abstract: This silent film appears to present the dedication of the Gorgas Memorial Institute/Laboratory in Panama. Shown are speakers, attending dignitaries, a ribbon-cutting, and a blessing by a priest. The film also contains images of lab animals, including monkeys and rabbits. The film is part of the Gorgas Memorial Institute manuscript collection at the National Library of Medicine (MS C 212).
Title: J. Austin Kerr, M.D. (Digitized)
Date: 1981
Run Time: 30 min.
Names: Kerr, J. Austin, Rockefeller Foundation, Workers in Tropical Medicine series, Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention
Abstract: Part of the Workers in Tropical Medicine series produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this interview with Dr. J. Austin Kerr examines his forty years of work for the Rockefeller Foundation. He was initially stationed in Alabama, but while working in Tennessee, he noted that the prevalence of hookworm in schoolchildren related to the presence of sand- or clay-based soil, and began to investigate these associations. In the 1920s, Kerr was asked by Rockefeller to work in Brazil, combating yellow fever in urban areas. He monitored the presence of Aedes eqyptiae mosquitoes, especially near water supplies. In the interview, he is also asked about a viscertome, a device which pierces the abdominal wall to obtain a liver sample. After working for many years in Brazil, helping to eradicate Anopheles, he was posted to Egypt and continued mosquito eradication work there.
Title: The doctor they called the boss
Date: 1986
Run Time: 30 min.
Names: Noland, Lloyd, Gorgas, William C., Army Medical Corps, Panama Canal Commission
Abstract: This video is a documentary on the life and work of Dr. Lloyd Noland (1880-1949). In 1904, Dr. Noland joined the Army Medical Corps to support the building of the Panama Canal. He served under Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, who believed that disease was related to sanitation. Dr. Gorgas was the chief sanitary officer of the Panama Canal Commission (1904-1913). Gorgas evaluated health conditions and, with Noland's help, controlled yellow fever and malaria enough to allow the digging of the canal. Dr. Noland became the chief surgeon at Colon Hospital while serving in Panama. In 1913 Gorgas recommended Noland to Elbert H. Gary, chair of the U.S. Steel Corporation, for a job as chief medical supervisor for the Fairfield Steel Works in Birmingham, Alabama. Fairfield was a subdivision of the Tennessee Coal & Iron Co. which was owned by U.S. Steel. Dr. Noland instituted sanitary and site clean-up procedures. He began spraying for mosquitoes. He drained open creeks, arranged for the sanitary disposal of human waste, and opened clinics. Dr. Noland also founded the TCI Hospital which was renamed the Lloyd Noland Hospital in his honor.
Title: Who cares about malaria?
Date: 1994
Run Time: 45 min.
Names: Patarroyo, Manuel E., Suzuki, David
Abstract: Produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and narrated by David Suzuki, this film includes commentary from Canadians who have contracted malaria while living in or traveling through regions where the disease has reached epidemic proportions, i.e. Africa, Asia, and South America. The transmission of malaria is described, as are the physical symptoms of infection in humans. The film describes the effectiveness of DDT in killing mosquitoes and reducing malaria, as well as the shift away from DDT use because of its potential harm to the environment. The appearance in Colombia and Thailand of chloroquine-resistant strains of malaria, and the explosive growth of malaria in Brazil as the Amazon rainforests fell to development, are mentioned. The film takes a close look at the work of Dr. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo of Colombia. In working to develop a malaria vaccine, Patarroyo, a virtually unknown chemist, focused on a stage in the parasite's life cycle that had been ignored by other researchers, and ran experiments using a particular species of monkey that can be infected with the human version of the disease. Patarroyo's trials indicated that his vaccine could significantly reduce the likelihood of infection, and he spurned lucrative offers from U.S. drug firms in favor of donating the vaccine to the World Health Organization. The international scientific community, however, questioned his clinical protocols, and did not agree that the vaccine's effectiveness had been adequately demonstrated.
Title: Albert Sabin lecture
Date: 1999
Run Time: 90 min.
Names: Sabin, Albert, Yax, Maggie, Albert Sabin Archives, Neurotropic Virus Commission
Abstract: This is a recording of a lecture given at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) by Maggie Yax of the Albert Sabin Archives, University of Cincinnati. It focuses on the work of Albert Sabin during World War II and how that work shaped his polio research. Sabin once said that war was a laboratory, and he used his wartime experience to study epidemic viruses. During World War II, Sabin was a member of the Neurotropic Virus Commission, part of the Army Epidemiological Board. Prior to this, Sabin served as a civilian advisor, studying malaria, Japanese B encephalitis, and dengue fever. When the war began, Sabin received a commission and was sent to Africa to study sand fly fever, poliomyelitis, and encephalitis, which were pandemic among the troops. His study was later expanded to include infectious hepatitis and malaria. Sabin made a significant contribution to medical research by isolating the sand fly virus. He then applied what he learned about the sand fly virus to the dengue fever virus. This work later informed Sabin's research on poliomyelitis. The lecture included slides.
Title: Infection: A History
Date: 2003
Run Time: 51 min.
Names: Kill or Cure: A History of Medical Treatment series
Abstract: An episode of the five-part Kill or Cure: A History of Medical Treatment television series, this program examines the history of epidemic infection and treatment and its profound effect on modern society. Diseases and illnesses profiled include smallpox, bubonic plague, yellow fever, malaria, syphilis, influenza, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As scientists develop greater knowledge of how disease spreads within and across populations, and the impact of disease on the human body, more can be done in prevention and treatment. Challenges remain, however, in combating bacteriological, viral, or parasitical disease. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one challenge, while nearly all of the scientists interviewed expressed fear of influenza and its great ability to mutate, leaving humans vulnerable to a virus about which scientists may have no knowledge.
Title: Jose Oliver-Gonzalez (Digitized)
Date: 1981
Run Time: 46 min.
Names: Oliver-Gonzalez, Jose, Taliaferro, William, Workers in Tropical Medicine series, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Puerto Rico
Abstract: From the Workers in Tropical Medicine series produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Dr. Jose Oliver-Gonzalez is interviewed about his life and career as a parasitologist. Born in rural Puerto Rico, Dr. Oliver-Gonzalez began working as a technician in the School of Tropical Medicine at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) when he was 15. He received his B.S. from UPR and began graduate studies in 1938 at the University of Chicago under William Taliaferro. He returned to UPR in 1941. His research spanned the fields of tropical medicine and parasitology, and included malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis, ascariasis, and parasite control.
Title: Lucy Graves Taliaferro, Sc.D., retired (Digitized)
Date: 1980
Run Time: 20 min.
Names: Taliaferro, Lucy, Taliaferro, William, Workers in Tropical Medicine series, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Chicago
Abstract: From the Workers in Tropical Medicine series produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Dr. Lucy Taliaferro describes decades of collaboration with her husband, William Taliaferro, in the field of parasitology, specializing in trypanosomes. They met at Johns Hopkins University, where Lucy Taliaferro received her Doctor of Science degree, married in 1919, and moved to Chicago when William Taliaferro was offered a position with the University of Chicago. The two studied the reactions that occur between a parasite and its host, and the reasons why some hosts (mice, guinea pigs) perished and others (rats) seemed unaffected by the presence of trypanosomes. They also studied the malaria-causing plasmodium and the most common treatment for malaria, quinine.
Title: MD international
Date: 1958
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: Nixon, Richard M., Skinsons, Olaf, Frazer, Neil, Harmon, Douglas, Brewster, Harold, Green, Phillips, Rangoon General Hospital Curtis, Arthur, Scutter, Ida, Rambo, Victor,
Abstract: Vice-President Richard M. Nixon introduces this film, which outlines the work of American physicians abroad. In Pusan, Korea, the work of the Catholic order of the Maryknoll Sisters in operating a clinic in the slums and visiting the sick in their homes is shown. On an island near Hong Kong, Drs. Olaf Skinsons, Neil Frazer, and Douglas Harmon work with lepers. In the Sarawak town of Kapit in Malaysia, Dr. Harold Brewster works with a tribe of former headhunters whose major health problems are malaria, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, and dysentery. Dr. Brewster and his staff are shown traveling by longboat to live for three or four days at a time in the long houses of the natives, to treat them and attempt to teach them basic hygiene. In Rangoon, Burma, Dr. Phillips Green works in the Rangoon General Hospital as an orthopedic surgeon. In Kathmandu, Nepal, Dr. Bethal Fleming describes her work in a hospital she helped to establish. In Tensin, Nepal, a remote Himalayan village, Dr. Friedrick operates a small hospital, examines schoolchildren outdoors, and travels by horseback to an even-more remote villages to inoculate residents against plague. In Beirut, Lebanon, the programs of the medical school of the American University of Beirut are outlined. The students are shown doing fieldwork in a Lebanese village. In Ethiopia, health centers are set up to train workers, treat patients, and eradicate mosquitoes. Dr. Arthur Curtis examines patients in an outdoor clinic. Well-drillers are shown. In Vellore, India at the Christian Medical College, Dr. Ida Scutter speaks to students, and students operate a mobile clinic. Dr. Victor Rambo treats eye diseases in eye clinics all over India. Shots include: Korean marketplace and city streets; lepers being treated; Nepalese marketplace and village; bearers carrying equipment over rough Nepalese terrain; an American psychiatric ward; an Indian village and scabies clinic; lepers exercising their hands; patients after cataract operations in an Indian clinic.
Title: Medicine in the tropics
Date: 1957
Run Time: 36 min.
Names: Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, Liberian Institute of the American Foundation for Tropical Medicine
Abstract: This film produced by the Firestone Plantations Company recounts efforts by the government of Liberia, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and the Liberian Institute of the American Foundation for Tropical Medicine to improve the health and nutritional status of Liberian citizens, particularly those working on rubber plantations. The program notes that a healthy work force is necessary both for the betterment of Liberia and for the economic success of companies operating rubber, coffee, and other plantations in the country. The following tropical diseases found in Liberia are shown and discussed: leprosy, yaws, onchocerciasis, Bancroftian filariasis, tuberculosis, keloid, ainhum, tropical ulcer, trypanosomiasis, and smallpox. The film is narrated over extensive footage of Liberians in villages, streams and forests, attending clinics and screenings, and being treated by health care workers. Shots include: workers and villagers with a range of diseases and conditons; a leprosy clinic; research laboratories; collecting snails; and collecting mosquitoes for research.
Title: NMRI: meeting fleet needs through research (Digitized)
Date: 1987
Run Time: 19 min.
Names: Naval Medical Research Institute
Abstract: This videotape profiles the Naval Medical Research Institute. The Institute develops modalities that meet the needs of the U.S. Navy in war and peace. The tape discusses using computers and developing therapeutic agents and a vaccine for septic shock. The Institute has developed an extensive tissue bank and investigated repair of bone marrow damage and the use of stem cells in various treatments. In addition, the Institute studies the effect of heat and cold on the body, decompression sickness, and oxygen toxicity. The Institute focuses on vaccine development for infectious diseases such as malaria and typhus. The tape also shows examples of the Institute's international labs. For example, the lab in Lima, Peru studies infectious diseases among the Amazon natives. There is extensive laboratory, equipment, and technician footage.
Title: Personal health in the jungle (Digitized)
Date: 1944
Run Time: 15 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film is designed to acquaint the soldier with the contents of his individual jungle first aid kit (M2) and to give instruction on how and when to use them. Other general rules for keeping healthy in the jungle are also discussed. There are not only human enemies in the jungle, the narrator cautions. Other enemies include the climate, which can cause heat exhaustion. To combat this, the soldier is admonished to take salt tablets, stay in the shade, wear his helmet, and wear his clothing loosely. Another jungle enemy is the fly, which carries diarrhea and dysentery. Food and garbage must be kept covered and human excrement disposed of properly. Soldiers are shown using a straddle trench and a cat hole, in which excrement is immediately covered by earth. Polluted water is another jungle enemy. Water is not to be taken internally until it has been boiled or purified. A soldier is shown by a stream putting Halazone tablets in his canteen. The worst jungle enemy is the Anopheles mosquito, carrier of malaria. The contents of the soldier's individual jungle first aid kit (M2) are shown. They include iodine, sterile dressings, wound tablets (sulfadiazine), bandaids, "Skat" insect repellent (dimethyl phthalate), atabrine tablets, athlete's foot solution, and Halazone tablets for purifying water. Soldiers are shown in jungle settings using each item in the kit in an appropriate and timely manner, for example, a sterile dressing is applied to a leg wound, a tick bite is dabbed with iodine and covered with a bandaid, insect repellent is put on exposed skin and on uniforms where they are tight over the skin, etc. Cleanliness is advocated over footage of men bathing in a stream and showering in a rain storm. Liberal use of "G.I. powder" on armpits, chest, crotch, and feet is demonstrated. Malaria tablets are to be taken when the medical officer so orders. Animation is used to illustrate how a tick feeds, how to remove a tick with a hot cigarette; how the Anopheles mosquito carries malaria. Shots include soldiers in the jungle demonstrating all the aspects of maintaining personal health mentioned herein.
Title: Plagues
Date: 1987
Run Time: 58 min.
Names: Blumbert, Baruch
Abstract: This PBS program shows how diseases develop, how some are controlled, why some will never be eliminated, and why others - like Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) - will develop despite all of our most advanced scientific efforts. Host Baruch Blumbert, a Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher and medical historian, traces the origins of many of man's most frightening epidemics from the deadly 1918 Spanish Flu to cholera, Legionnaire's Disease, and malaria.
Title: Prevention of the introduction of disease from abroad
Date: 1946
Run Time: 10 min.
Names: Public Health Service
Abstract: This film outlines the work of the United States Public Health Service in preventing the introduction of disease from abroad through American ports. Inspection teams are shown boarding vessels, looking over the purser's records, and examining a crew member in the sick bay. The crew member is found to be suffering from typhus, and he and all his contacts are removed from the ship, put aboard the quarantine vessel, and taken to a detention hospital. The sick man is admitted to the hospital. The contacts are taken to a delousing plant where they strip naked, are washed with soap and water, and sprayed with insecticide. Their clothing and other belongings are put through a fumigation chamber. The arrival of immigrants at Ellis Island is shown and their medical examination outlined. The inspection of prospective immigrants at United States consulates abroad is discussed and one such examination shown. Epidemics of bubonic plague, yellow fever, and cholera are discussed briefly. Also shown are: a rat attempting to get around a rat guard on a ship's line; inspection of international air passengers for yellow fever; and an airplane being vacuumed and sprayed to eliminate mosquitoes.
Title: Tenth anniversary meeting of International Centers for Tropical Disease Research
Date: 2001
Run Time: 3 hr 45 min.
Names: International Centers for Tropical Disease Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Fauci, Anthony
Abstract: This videocast consists of the opening session of the Tenth Anniversary Meeting of International Centers for Tropical Disease Research (ICTDR), sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). Researchers from around the world attended the three-day event, which highlighted accomplishments in diagnosing, treating, and preventing tropical diseases. At the meeting, Director Anthony S. Fauci of NIAID unveiled the NIAID Global Health Research Plan for HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. This report outlined the Institute's plans for fighting three critical infectious diseases by building sustained research capability and enhancing international partnerships.
Title: That men may fight (Digitized)
Date: 1952
Run Time: 14 min.
Names: Field Research Laboratory (Fort Knox, Kentucky), Environmental Laboratory (Edgewood, Maryland), Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Abstract: An overview of scientific research and testing by U.S. Army scientists is presented in this film. The role of the scientist in keeping men fit and properly equipped to fight is emphasized, with focus on the following: inspection and testing in markets and laboratories of food and milk for troop consumption; animal nutrition studies; preparation of mess hall food, canned rations, and hospital special diets; dietary changes according to the climate in which troops are stationed; treadmill testing of clothing in extremes of heat and cold; testing shoes and socks; skin testing for toxicity of mold-resistant chemicals used in fabrics; protecting tank crews from powder gases and from extreme noise; testing manual and pedal designs for tank controls; laboratory testing of exposure to simulated tropical sunlight; gamma radiation studies on human beings and animals; laboratory studies of yellow fever, typhoid, Puerto Rican anemia, malaria, dysentery, rickettsia, and typhus; the search for a tasteless disinfectant for mess kits; pathological research using the electron microscope and micromanipulator. Shots include: doctors examining recruits; Field Research Laboratory at Fort Knox, Kentucky (exterior); Environmental Laboratory, Edgewood, Maryland (interior); Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (exterior, interior, and laboratories); Walter Reed Army Medical Center (exterior and laboratories).
Title: The Gorgas Memorial Laboratory: its research & training program (Digitized)
Date: 1961
Run Time: 63 min.
Names: Gorgas Memorial Laboratory
Abstract: Dedicated to Dr. Herbert C. Clark, Director of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Panama from 1929-1954, the film includes images and footage of buildings on the Gorgas grounds; staff and officials; laboratories, specimens, and procedures; live insects; outdoor plants and trees; jungle terrain; a posterboard presentation on Chagas disease; patients being examined and treated for tropical diseases (e.g. a man with open sores covering his legs); and villagers seemingly awaiting medical treatment. The film is part of the Gorgas Memorial Institute manuscript collection at the National Library of Medicine (MS C 212). [This film appears to have had a soundtrack originally, but that soundtrack was missing when NLM acquired it, so it is effectively a silent film.]
Title: The work of the Public Health Service (Digitized)
Date: 1936
Run Time: 50 min.
Names: Public Health Service, McMullen, John
Abstract: This film explains the history of the Public Health Service (PHS) beginning with the 1798 Act of Congress. Medical subjects include prevention of: smallpox, cholera, typhus fever, bubonic plague, yellow fever, trachoma, malaria, leprosy, and venereal disease. Prevention shown includes: maritime quarantine; insecticide spraying of people and baggage; health inspection of immigrants; rat extermination; inspection of drinking water on planes, trains, ships, and towns, especially during floods; and inspections of canneries and sea food. Other duties shown include: health care to penal institutions, native Alaskans, and veterans; world health communication including annual conferences of state and territorial health officers, the Pan American Conference on Health, and worldwide emergency procedures to alert the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in Washington, D.C. of suspected serious communicable disease. Shots include: the Surgeon General of the United States; Dr. John McMullen speaking about his 1912 survey on trachoma; charts showing the spread of disease; and exteriors: of the leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana; the 1st Marine Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia; and the Marine Hospital in Stapleton, New York. In addition, the film shows health inspectors on tug boats; a rat guard being tested by a rat on the ship's tie line; patients in hydrotherapy and de-lousing stations; malarial chill patient; prison inmates in mosquito-borne disease testing; dramatization of Civil War wounded; one-day's catch of rats of a large city; emergency water testing equipment, flood footage including unsafe drinking practices; testing labs; huge metal equipment for de-lousing large amounts of baggage at once; dust testing in factories; whole body tent equipment on venereal disease patient with fan blowing on the patient's face; dental and X-ray equipment; physical and eye exams; patient taken off a large ship and loaded into an ambulance; and a list of all the PHS men and women who have contracted diseases and died in the line of duty.
Title: Tropical disease investigations in Africa (Digitized)
Date: 1957
Run Time: 22 min.
Names:
Abstract: Etiology and treatment of four major tropical diseases (malaria, onchocerciasis, trypanosomiasis, and schistosomiasis) in Africa are shown. Shots include natives in villages working and being treated.
Title: Wilbur G. Downs, M.D. (Digitized)
Date: 1981
Run Time: 56 min.
Names: Workers in Tropical Medicine series, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Downs, WIlbur
Abstract: From the Workers in Tropical Medicine series produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this interview with Dr. Wilbur Downs sheds light on a scientific career that included research on malaria, lassa fever, dengue, scrub typhus, leprosy, and other diseases. Over the course of his career, Dr. Downs carried out field training, research, and direction of laboratories in Trinidad; Mexico; Venezuela; Colombia; Okinawa, Japan; and other locales. He was trained at Cornell and Johns Hopkins and worked many years with the Rockefeller Institute and later the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit.
Title: William A. Sodeman, Sr., M.D., M.A.C.P., F.A.C.C. (Digitized)
Date: 1980
Run Time: 64 min.
Names: Workers in Tropical Medicine series, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sodeman, William, Gorgas Memorial Institute
Abstract: Part of the Workers in Tropical Medicine series produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this interview is conducted by Dr. Sodeman's grandsons, who are also in medicine. He describes his entry into the field of tropical medicine in 1932, when he left the University of Michigan for New Orleans to work with Dr. John Musser at Tulane, where much clinical research in tropical disease was taking place. Dr. Sodeman describes seeing cases of amoebic dysentery, Weil's disease, malaria (made worse by heroin users sharing eyedroppers and thus blood), typhoid fever, and all manner of intestinal parasites. Sodeman mentions prominent names in tropical disease with whom he worked (Charles Craig, Ernest Carroll Faust, Charles C. Bass), and his department's role in training physicians headed for the Pacific in World War II. Sodeman also worked at the Carville, Louisiana leprosarium and in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Panama at the Gorgas Memorial Institute. Schistosomiasis was an affliction dealt with in most of these locales.
Title: G. Robert Coatney, Ph.D., Sc.D (Digitized)
Date: 1979
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: Coatney, G. Robert
Abstract: This biographical interview with Dr. G. Robert Coatney is a dramatic personalized history of a very important aspect of medical research on malaria. It shows how the merging of personalities, problems and the trends of the times resulted in the formation of some of our great public health institutions, programs, and systems in this country. It is highly recommended for use.
Title: Medicine in the tropics: impact of infectious diseases on military deployment (Digitized)
Date: 1989
Run Time: 53 min.
Names:
Abstract: In this recording of a lecture, a military doctor describes the competencies that military medicine requires, particularly in the tropics: an understanding of tropical disease, emergency pre-hospital care, disease prevention through sanitation, psychiatry, and leadership. In a variety of graphs and charts, the lecturer presents statistical information drawn from past U.S. and international conflicts, demonstrating the impact that disease and illness have on those on active military duty. He notes that before World War I, the majority of military deaths were a result of disease. While modern medicine has greatly diminished the risk, it remains true that afflictions such as skin infections, exposure to heat or cold, and mental health still account for far more casualties than do combat wounds. The lecturer emphasized the importance of doctors and other health providers collecting and providing solid statistical information to commanding officials, so that they can develop and ensure adherence to effective health policies.
Title: Tropical medicine in the rainforest
Date: 1995
Run Time: 25 min.
Names: La Clinica Yanamona
Abstract: A presentation from the workshop "Pharmacy from the Rain Forest" held in the Upper Amazon Basin in northern Peru during October 1994. Dr. Smith leads a tour through La Clinica Yanamona. She shares her experiences and insights into health care in the Amazon region, where Western medicine is usually unavailable due to both isolation and cost.
Title: Onchocerciasis in Ghana (Digitized)
Date: 1967
Run Time: 31 min.
Names:
Abstract: This audiovisual describes in detail the life cycle of the Onchocerca volvulus and its role in causing blindness in Ghana. Clinical examples of persons afflicted with this disease are shown to elucidate the effects of the disease. According to the presentation, the disease is transmitted by the bite of black flies of the family Simuliidae. The method by which the flies acquire the organism is carefully outlined, as is the process by which the infective larvae enter the wound and develop into male and female worms, which mate and cause a tissue reaction in man. This reaction produces fibrous nodules which often appear externally as lumps. If ocular invasion occurs, blindness can result. Treatment of the disease by surgical removal of the nodules or by administration of the drug diethylcarbamazine is discussed. Measures to control the breeding grounds of the flies with DDT are also noted.
Title: Research in public health
Date: 2003
Run Time: 43 min.
Names: Morehouse College Institute of Public Health
Abstract: Three students in the public health field present their research findings at the 13th Annual Public Health Conference at the Institute of Public Health, Morehouse College. Kaee Ross discusses the impact of silicosis within the foundry industries in Michigan. Anthony Jewett reports on river blindness disease around the world, and Erica Stokes presents her findings on the crisis of incarcerated pregnant African-American women in the state of Georgia.
Title: Focus on sight - Le prix de la vue
Date: 1976
Run Time: 15 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program focuses on four diseases/conditions that cause blindness: trachoma, cataract, xerophthalmia, and river blindness (onchocerciasis). It begins with images of people with eye conditions and vision loss, then presents details of each of the four "evil giants," noting that some 10 million of the current 16 million cases of blindness worldwide are/were preventable. Preventive techniques include less crowding and better hygiene, spraying insecticide on rivers to kill blackflies, the use of antibiotic ointments, and ingestion of sufficient vitamin A. The program adopts a political tone, stating that the protection of sight is worthy of investment by government and non-government entities, which are otherwise responsible for the support of people who are economically compromised by blindness.
Title: Body snatchers: Parasites that harm, parasites that help
Date: 2004
Run Time: 50 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program takes a look at parasites both harmful and beneficial. A British tourist returns from Ghana with a Tumbu fly maggot embedded in her neck, another contracts leishmaniasis in Brazil, and Ugandan villagers suffer from African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). On the beneficial side, "helminthic therapy" -- the deliberate ingesting of hookworms and whipworms to treat certain conditions -- is examined. Researchers in Ecuador had observed that children infected with ascaris worms were less susceptible to allergies and asthma. One scientist experiments on himself, ingesting hookworms to see if his hay fever symptoms moderate (they do). In Iowa, guided by a physician, a woman with ulcerative colitis swallows porcine whipworms, and after a time her condition improves markedly. Scientists theorize that the worms attach themselves to the intestinal wall and release a chemical that dampens the human immune response. Also featured are guinea worm in Africa, and the toxoplasma gondii parasite.
Title: Body snatchers: A parasite primer
Date: 2004
Run Time: 50 min.
Names:
Abstract: This program examines several types of parasites, mostly acquired by Western travelers visiting tropical climes. Cases include a botfly maggot (Costa Rica), candiru fish (Brazil), ascaris (Pember Island off the coast of East Africa), and tapeworms.
Title: Pinta (Digitized)
Date: 1948
Run Time: 18 min.
Names:
Abstract: This presentation provides an overview of pinta using clinical subjects, histologic slides, and scenes from locations in Mexico and the laboratory. Pinta is a chronic disease found in poverty-stricken areas of the tropics. It is characterized by skin lesions of various colors ranging from white, coffee, red, blue, and violet to almost black. These lesions occur only on the exposed surfaces of the body. Produced experimentally, the disease appears to go through three stages: 1) the appearance of a single patch; 2) the spread of lesions to other parts of the body; and 3) a final stage in which flat spots become wildly discolored. Male and female clinical subjects of all ages are presented to illustrate the three stages and to compare and contrast the lesions with those of leprosy, syphilis, ringworm, eczema, and psoriasis. Diagnostic tests used to isolate the Treponema carateum and differentiate it from other spirochetes are described and demonstrated. The diagnostic uses of the Wasserman reaction are discussed in detail. The transmission by direct contact and by insects and flies is explored. The treatment using arsenicals, neoarsenicals and penicillin is discussed briefly.
Title: Australorbis Glabratus (Digitized)
Date: 1947
Run Time: 5 min.
Names:
Abstract: Set in Puerto Rico, this film illustrates through aquarium scenes the life cycle of Australorbis glabratus, the Planorbid snail, which is the intermediate host and principal transmitting species of Schistosoma mansoni in tropical America.
Title: Bilharzia control Uganda
Date: 2007
Run Time: 33 min.
Names: World Health Organization, Imperial College (London)
Abstract: This film documents the initial stage of a four-year program to treat and spread awareness of bilharzia (also known as schistosomiasis) in Uganda. Bilharzia is a parasitic disease caused by freshwater snails that produce eggs containing the parasite. Larvae can enter the skin, then the blood, moving to the liver and causing severe intestinal troubles that can become chronic if not treated early. The four-year program was the result of cooperation among the Schistosomiasis Initiative of Imperial College, London; the World Health Organization (WHO); and the government of Uganda. The goal was to treat nearly three million people as well as raise awareness of the disease and its symptoms in rural areas. A Ugandan health team worked with schoolteachers in eighteen districts to help them teach their students to recognize symptoms and seek treatment. A subset of schoolchildren was tested with the intention of tracking them in coming years to check the efficacy of the program.
Title: Schistosomiasis in Egypt: MED-1-56 (Digitized)
Date: 1952
Run Time: 17 min.
Names: U.S. Naval Research Unit No. 3
Abstract: The nature and extent of schistosomiasis in Egypt, the Egyptian government's campaigns to eradicate the snail vector and to cure those suffering from the disease, and the schistosomiasis work of the U.S. Naval Research Unit No. 3 outside Cairo are outlined in this film.
Title: Schistosomiasis studies in Pernambuco (Digitized)
Date: 1950
Run Time: 36 min.
Names:
Abstract: Unedited, raw footage taken in Pernambuco, Brazil. Men filtering flukes and snails from irrigation ditches and rivers. Women washing clothing in a river. Men spraying stands of water grasses and irrigation ditches.
Title: Tropical sprue
Date: 1950
Run Time: 7 min.
Names:
Abstract: Sprue is a disorder of the function of the alimentary tract. This film offers a case study of a person returning to Britain after many years in India; upon arrival he is hospitalized with tropical sprue. There are title and text slides describing symptoms, interspersed with visual images of inflamed tissue and other manifestations of the disease. Treatment of the disease is also addressed.
Title: African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis)
Date: 1934
Run Time: 10 min.
Names: American Presbyterian Congo Mission
Abstract: This silent film by the American Presbyterian Congo Mission in Bibanga, Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), combines images with text to describe African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly, and efforts to treat and eradicate it. Images of ill villagers, lethargic children, the administration of treatments, and missionaries at work are presented. The physical effects of the sickness are described, as are interventions such as replacing grass huts with brick houses. The film notes medicines found to be effective (e.g. German Bayer 205, tryparsamide), and claims a dramatic reduction in infections from 1927- 1939, thanks to these medicines. [Film's publication date is listed as 1934.]
Title: African trypanosomiasis: the challenge of diagnosis and treatment
Date: 1995
Run Time: 20 min.
Names: Bitar, Roger
Abstract: Roger Bitar, M.D., presents a case study of a patient who is from Equatorial Guinea and is ill with an undiagnosed ailment. Dr. Bitar and another physician discuss the patient's symptoms and initial bloodwork; Bitar then examines the patient. He learns that the patient has lived in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, then the U.S. The patient undergoes a spinal tap, which reveals the presence of the organism that causes trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness). The film offers details on this organism, where it thrives, its life cycle, etc. Title and text slides, along with images, describe symptoms, how to diagnose the disease, and what sorts of treatment are appropriate given the stage of the disease at diagnosis.
Title: Rash in Gambian sleeping sickness
Date: 1950
Run Time: 4 min.
Names:
Abstract: The typical rash of Gambian trypanosomiasis is shown in two patients. Both patients had visited an endemic area of trypanosomiasis in West Africa. Each, during his stay, developed a large purplish lesion on the ankle which was mistaken for erysipelas. Two months later, when both patients were seen in England, the lesions were much paler and slightly desquamating. The leg of one patient is shown and the lesion pointed to. A circinate, macular rash had appeared, and the patients complained of feeling run-down. One patient's back is shown, the rash clearly visible from several feet away and from close up. The patient's chest and lateral torso are also presented. The second patient showed the same signs, but the rash was less definite. This rash is pointed to on the patient's chest, back, and calf. The lymph glands were not palpable nor was the spleen enlarged. A physician is seen palpating the cervical lymph nodes and the spleen. A blood sample is taken from the ear lobe of one patient and smear and drop slides made from it. The morphology of Trypanosoma gambiense is shown in a thin stained film.
Title: Demystifying medicine, tuberculosis: the ever present white plague
Date: 2006
Run Time: 1 hr 34 min.
Names: Holland, Steven, Robbins, Steve, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
Abstract: Dr. Steven Holland and Dr. Steve Robbins, both of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), present on and discuss tuberculosis (TB) in the present-day. The disease is one of the top three infectious diseases on the planet, along with Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and malaria. TB is common in poor regions of the world, and the growth of cases in the U.S. is almost entirely due to immigrants. Discussion of who gets TB, whether exposure always results in illness, and why TB isn't under control despite effective treatments. Recent figures: 3 million deaths out of 2 billion exposed; scientist are studying why only 3 million die given such widespread exposure, and why rates differ widely among ethnic groups. They also address reasons why developing a vaccine is difficult.
Title: TB or not TB: that is the question
Date: 2000
Run Time: 120 min.
Names: International Monetary Fund
Abstract: In a series of interviews by a group of reporters, this film focuses on the international ramifications that Western monetary policies have on health and education in the developing world, especially with regard to tuberculosis (TB). There is some evidence that involvement in programs sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is associated with higher rates of TB. Though the 20th century dawned with TB rates declining, the 21st century sees rates rising again. Some women in India are nearly bedridden before they receive treatment, and if not allowed to take TB medicine, they infect numerous others before dying. Crowded prison conditions in South Africa quickly spread the disease from the ill to the initially healthy. In Estonia, at a center for tuberculosis treatment, the journalists meet a mother who has lost one of her lungs to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis; she remains hospitalized indefinitely.
Title: The battle continues
Date: 1982
Run Time: 30 min.
Names:
Abstract: This documentary focuses on the battle against tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries, focusing on Malaysia. The program follows the work of a health assistant, Mahmut, who was inspired to work in health after his father died of tuberculosis and Mahmut learned the disease can be treated and need not result in death. Mahmut works at a rural health center that provides TB tests as well as general health services and midwifery services. Malaysian nurses tend to find TB victims through passive methods, then encourage them to seek treatment and further education about the disease. The film notes that a sputum test is the only conclusive test to determine if someone has tuberculosis, and is simple to administer. One of the most difficult aspects of TB treatment is patient cooperation, so Malaysia tries to prevent future illness by vaccinating schoolchildren with the BCG vaccine.
Title: Tuberculosis in the 21st century: old problem, new understanding
Date: 2006
Run Time: 1 hr 11 min.
Names: Holland, Steven, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
Abstract: Dr. Steven Holland of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) lectures on four key questions related to tuberculosis (TB): what is it, who gets it, how is it treated, and why doesn't everyone exposed to it get sick? He gives a retrospective look at the disease, beginning with slides showing the mummified remains of an Egyptian whose lungs show evidence of a TB-like disease and its physiological impacts, including an abscess and a deformed spine. Currently, out of about two billion people infected, there are about nine million active cases, mainly in less-developed regions in tropical climates, and among those who are HIV-infected and otherwise immuno-compromised. Holland explores the reasons for these trends and the current available treatments.
Title: Under the mupundu tree: volunteers in home care for people with HIV/AIDS and TB in Zambia's Copperbelt
Date: 2008
Run Time: 35 min.
Names:
Abstract: Depicts an innovative program in 23 low-income townships in Zambia's Copperbelt, which provides home care for HIV/AIDS and TB patients and their families.
Title: Global health inequities and the critical role of public/private partnerships
Date: 2003
Run Time: 1 hr 9 min.
Names: Cassell, Gail, Eli Lilly Company, Farmer, Paul, Kim, Jim, Partners in Health
Abstract: In this lecture, Gail Cassell of the Eli Lilly Company discusses the implications of a rising global population, particularly in disease-prone regions. She notes that population is rapidly growing in eight countries in particular, seven of which are developing nations also afflicted with high rates of tuberculosis (TB). For example, India's population increases more in one week than does the European Union's in a year. Crowded conditions and lack of treatment result in rising numbers of TB infections and death. Cassell reports that in 1997, she received a call about Paul Farmer and Jim Kim's Partners in Health initiative, and its acute need for tuberculosis drugs known to be effective against multi-drug- resistant TB. Eli Lilly contributed these drugs for Partners in Health's work in Peru, and after four months, the initiative reported an 83.3 percent cure rate for those treated for multi-drug resistant TB. Eli Lilly also helped to train community workers, many of whom had little previous schooling, and took steps to bring the drugs and treatment method to other countries.
Title: Community-based care for chronic infectious disease: partners in health experience from Haiti to Rwanda
Date: 2007
Run Time: 1 hr 21 min.
Names: Farmer, Paul, Kidder, Tracy, Partners in Health
Abstract: In this filmed lecture, Paul Farmer, one of the co-founders of the Partners in Health initiative and the subject of author Tracy Kidder's Mountains beyond mountains, discusses the strategy of Partners in Health in treating chronic conditions like tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Haiti and Rwanda. Farmer discusses how the group based its treatment of HIV on previously proven treatments of tuberculosis, and relied on paid community health workers. He mentions that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are seen as weakening an established health system. Farmer wanted to demonstrate that the opposite could be true; that NGOs could strengthen a health system, including the morale of doctors and patients. Farmer argues that a key strength of the Partners in Health model is engaging and paying community health workers. It is not realistic to expect people who are struggling economically to continue treatment in a hospital; the community health worker model helps sick individuals get ongoing care and treatment, in their homes and villages. Paying these workers is important, as most cannot earn a living and also make time to volunteer, given the limitations of the local economies.
Title: Yaws (Digitized)
Date: 1946
Run Time: 13 min.
Names:
Abstract: The characteristics, transmission, histology, and progressive stages of the disease known as yaws are outlined in this film. Extensive footage of patients in all stages of the disease is shown. The Haitian government's program to control yaws is discussed.
Title: A fever for empire: U.S. disease eradication in Cuba as colonial public health (Digitized)
Date: 2007
Run Time: 77 min.
Names: Espinosa, Mariola
Abstract: Dr. Elizabeth Fee introduces Dr. Mariola Espinosa's lecture in honor of Hispanic History Month. In her lecture, Dr. Espinosa documents how the U.S. war against Spain in Cuba was linked to the American fight against yellow fever. She describes the disease and illustrates this with a chart of one individual. She discusses how methods to combat yellow fever changed as understanding about the means of transmission changed -- from the miasma theory to the germ theory -- and the mosquito was identified as the disease vector.
Title: Reconnaissance for yellow fever in the Nuba Mountains, southern Sudan, 1954 (Digitized)
Date: 2006
Run Time: 25 min.
Names: Work, Telford, Taylor, Richard Moreland, Rockefeller Foundation, Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3
Abstract: The film combined footage shot by Telford H. Work in 1954 with diaries that Richard Moreland Taylor wrote during an expedition to the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan. The expedition was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation at Naval Medical Research Unit no. 3 (NAMRU-3) in Cairo, Egypt. Herbert Hurlbutt was also on the expedition. The film begins with a description of yellow fever and a history of its appearance in the Nuba Mountains in 1934 and again in 1940. There was a 20 percent mortality rate during these outbreaks. The expedition develops the premise that the outbreaks originated with Galago primates or Bush Babies, and the tsetse fly was the method by which yellow fever was transmitted. The film shows a flight over the Nubian Desert, as well as eleven villages and the area which would be flooded by the Aswan Dam. Images of Khartoum are included, and of Richard Moreland Taylor taking blood from a villager to check for yellow fever.
Title: The great fever
Date: 2006
Run Time: 60 min.
Names: Reed, Walter, Finlay, Carlos
Abstract: In June 1900, Major Walter Reed, Chief Surgeon of the U.S. Army, led a medical team to Cuba on a mission to investigate yellow fever. For more than two hundred years U.S. cities had experienced outbreaks of the disease, which killed an estimated 100,000 people in the 19th century alone. Shortly after Reed and his team arrived in Havana, they began testing the radical theories of a Cuban doctor, Carlos Finlay, who believed that mosquitoes spread yellow fever. The production documents the efforts of Reed's medical team to verify Finlay's theory. Eventually their discovery enabled the U.S. to successfully eradicate the disease among workers constructing the Panama Canal, making possible the completion of the strategic waterway. When yellow fever struck New Orleans in 1905, federal public health officials launched an aggressive mosquito-eradication campaign and successfully ended the epidemic. It was the last yellow fever outbreak in the United States, and the first major public health triumph of the 20th century.
Title: The silent war: Colombia's fight against yellow fever: a film (Digitized)
Date: 1943
Run Time: 10 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film stresses the importance of good health for soldiers fighting in different climates during World War II. It profiles jungle diseases, especially yellow fever, and describes laboratory research conducted jointly by U.S. and Colombian researchers to develop a vaccine. The importance of spraying for mosquitoes and vaccinating a population is stressed and demonstrated in Colombia.
Title: Welcome to the Public Health, Demography & American Medicine Symposium (Digitized)
Date: 1996
Run Time: 212 min.
Names: Cassedy, James, National Library of Medicine, Curtin, Philip, Kraut, Alan, Hanaway, Carolyn, Harden, Victoria
Abstract: This is a symposium in honor of Dr. James Cassedy, historian, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, for his contributions to the library, the division, and to the history of medicine. Dr. Philip Teigen, deputy chief, History of Medicine Division, served as moderator. A series of five lectures were presented. Each lecture is about 35 minutes long. Dr. Philip Curtin, The Johns Hopkins University, presents a lecture titled "Yellow Fever as a Public Health Problem in 19th Century West Africa." Alan Kraut, American University, speaks on "When the Truth was not Enough: Joseph Goldberger and the Pursuit of Public Health." Carolyn Hanaway, researcher at the Office of the NIH Historian, discusses "The Approach to Epidemics: the Scientists' Perspective, Past and Present." Victoria Harden, NIH Historian, reports on "Yellow Fever, the End of the Story?: Mason V. Hargett & the Development of an Aqueous-Based Vaccine During World War II." Finally, John Parascandola, U.S. Public Health Service Historian and former chief of the History of Medicine Division, looks at "Syphilis at the Cinema: The U.S. Public Health Service VD Films of the 1930s and 40s." The films he describes are Know for Sure, A Venereal Disease Rapid Treatment Center, and To the People of the United States. All of the speakers took questions.
Title: Yellow fever in the Sudan (Digitized)
Date: 1954
Run Time: 34 min.
Names: Work, Telford, Taylor, Richard Moreland
Abstract: Telford Work made this film during an expedition to the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan in search of evidence of yellow fever, and to evaluate the possible spread of yellow fever northward. The film shows laboratory equipment being loaded onto a Jeep along with Dr. Mansour, a Sudanese veterinarian and microbiologist in charge of the eradication of the tsetse fly, and Dr. Richard Moreland Taylor, Dr. Work's colleague on the expedition. The film documents the trip. Scenes include airplane views of the Nile and Nubian Desert, Khartoum and the Aswan dam from the air, a steam locomotive traveling through the savannahs to El Obeid, a Nuba village, warriors, women, and children, evidence of scarification, taking of blood samples, Baggara tribesmen, Dinka people building a new village, collection of monkeys to test for yellow fever antibodies, the Mayem Mission, and cranes, egrets, and ibis feeding in swamps.
Title: Aedes aegypti control (Digitized)
Date: 1946
Run Time: 18 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film shows the inspection processes in dengue and yellow fever control. It describes the habitat and life cycle of Aedes aegypti mosquito, the inspector's work, his equipment, inspections, report, and follow-up of the report, including the duties of clean-up of the maritime crew, and locating and treatment of heavy foci. Scenes include inspection in shanty towns and in prominent houses.
Title: It's up to you: dengue-yellow fever control (Digitized)
Date: 1945
Run Time: 17 min.
Names:
Abstract: This film depicts a representative community campaign to control Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in order to prevent dengue and yellow fever. Shots include: breeding pond for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, other breeding places (water-holding containers), Aedes aegypti on a man's hand, Aedes aegypti larvae in water, emptying water from containers, fish in aquarium eating larvae, and publicity media encouraging mosquito eradication and control.
Title: Conquering an invisible world
Date: 1998
Run Time: 52 min.
Names:
Abstract: Examines the history of scientific research into the study of viruses. Covers significant outbreaks of viral diseases beginning with yellow fever during the building of the Panama Canal in 1893 to the emergence of AIDS in the 1980s.
Title: Scenes in West Africa (Digitized)
Date: 1927
Run Time: 52 min.
Names: Sawyer, Wilbur, Rockefeller Foundation, Baptist Hospital African Mission
Abstract: Part 1 contains the following titles: street scenes in Lagos, the Commission's compound in Yaba, the opening of the legislative council of Nigeria, fumigating after yellow fever in Lagos, collecting mosquito larvae, down the Ogun River in Nigeria, scenes from Oshogbo at end of Ramadan, from Oshogbo to Ogbomosho, road in Ibadan, scenes from Ibadan, a trip to Iwopin in Nigeria, trooping the colors in Lagos, and the Beiram Festival in Lagos. Part 2 contains scenes of a school on a Lagos street, natives and their homes in Lagos, an official's home in Ikoyi, a tennis party at the Medical Research Institute, local scenes, river scenes, and collecting mosquito larvae. Part 3 shows collecting mosquito larvae, scenes from Oshogbo at end of Ramadan, a visit to Ilesha, collecting cotton, Baptist Hospital African Mission, Oyo (the Yorba capital), local scenes, thatched mud huts, goat herding, market place, inside a hospital, and river scenes. Part 4 has more footage of trooping the colors in Lagos and more footage of the Beiram Festival. Films made by Wilbur Sawyer while with the Rockefeller Foundation.
Title: Gorgas Memorial Institute. Film 2 (Digitized)
Date: 1930
Run Time: 7 min.
Names: Gorgas Memorial Institute
Abstract: This silent film begins with images of men emerging from a vehicle and boarding a longboat that takes them across a body of water and to an installation of grass and wood huts. There are images of native peoples, both adults and children, as well as wildlife and flora. Health workers are seen examining and treating local peoples. The film is part of the Gorgas Memorial Institute manuscript collection at the National Library of Medicine (MS C 212).
Title: Control of helminthic infections in school-age children
Date: c2002
Run Time: 13 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This program describes how helminthic infections are contracted and spread, identifies the geographic areas most affected, and discusses how its prevalence in tropical areas affects societal productivity. The existence of safe, effective, inexpensive drug therapy is emphasized, and the program outlines in detail how the targeting of school-age populations for testing and treatment can significantly decrease the spread of the disease.
Title: Severe malaria in African children
Date: c2000
Run Time: 25 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This video is part of a training module in the management of severe malaria. It discusses the clinical presentations and major signs and symptoms of severe malaria in African children, and how the body, blood, breathing, and brain are affected (generalized weakness, severe anemia, respiratory distress, cerebral lesions). The program describes the blood tests and microscopy needed to determine the density of parasites in blood, offers an overall clinical assessment of these children, and shows methods for the assessment of recovery.
Title: DAT for leishmaniasis
Date: c2002
Run Time: 14 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This video describes a simple test that can identify the most serious form of leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease endemic to much of the developing world. The direct agglutination test (DAT) is accurate and inexpensive, and differentiates visceral leishmaniasis from malaria, which has been difficult in the past. Treatments for the two conditions differ, making the distinction between the two important. The DAT has been tested in multiple countries and found reliable.
Title: Facing reality of malaria
Date: 2004
Run Time: 18 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This program discusses the extent to which malaria still kills, especially African children under the age of five. Though malaria is both preventable and curable, many villagers do not get treatment because it may be expensive relative to their income, require time away from work, or travel to a neighboring village. Efforts by the World Health Organization and other groups to develop community-based care and treatment, administered by local providers, are profiled. The importance of support from national leaders and government is emphasized. In Uganda, for example, preventative drugs are provided free of charge to pregnant women and those under the age of five. In other places, government provides bed nets or sprays insecticide in villagers' homes.
Title: Lymphatic filariasis: meeting the challenge
Date: 2002
Run Time: 12 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This presentation focuses on Uganda and mentions several endemic diseases it has worked to eradicate. Lymphatic filariasis is one of those, and the object of a recent campaign. The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and results in the swelling of lymph glands, often to a disfiguring extent. The film contains details on tests that identify lymphatic filariasis, including an antigen test that requires no lab equipment. Treatments are described, and Uganda's efforts to provided mass treatment in all areas of the country where the disease is endemic are profiled. Drug companies contribute medications at a reduced cost to aid the effort.
Title: A new time of cholera
Date: 1993
Run Time: 24 min.
Names: World Health Organization Insight News Television International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research
Abstract: This program examines an epidemic of cholera that broke out in the early 1990s in Bangladesh and affected many adults, who usually are less susceptible to the disease. Scientists at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, decoded the genetic structure of the organism responsible for the disease and discovered a new mutation, cholera 0139. The film shows the conditions under which cholera flourishes and the often simple measures that can halt its spread and reduce the death rate, such as oral rehydration salts (ORS). It also describes the difficult issues that arise when a developing country that relies on exports to sustain its economy must disclose the presence of a feared disease that might cause other nations not to purchase its products.
Title: Lassa
Date: 1993
Run Time: 34 min.
Names: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention World Health Organization
Abstract: Lassa fever was first recognized in 1969 in Lassa, Nigeria when several missionary nurses fell ill. This program takes place in Sierra Leone and describes the history, etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and prevention and control of the disease. Researchers in Sierra Leone found that most patients got infected in their villages, and they identified the rodent Mastomys natalensis as the reservoir of the disease. One hallmark of the disease is severe throat pain; patients stop swallowing. Another is marked hearing loss. In some parts of Sierra Leone ten percent of hospital admissions are for lassa fever, with frequent transmittal from ill patients to their caregivers. Barrier nursing methods are discussed, as is education about ways to avoid exposure. The piece mentions that there is an effective drug to combat lassa, but it isn't widely available in Africa.
Title: Cholera, the unnecessary disease
Date: 1993
Run Time: 31 min.
Names: World Health Organization Television Trust for the Environment
Abstract: This video follows events in Zambia, where there were two severe outbreaks of cholera in the early 1990s. The tendency of cholera to take hold in countries beset by poverty and lack of development is discussed. Scientists and doctors emphasize that the best treatment for cholera is oral rehydration salts (ORS), rather than antibiotics. ORS has been shown to reduce deaths from cholera markedly. Other local health workers argue that preventive measures are more important, such as proper sanitation and teaching people to boil water and protect the food supply in other ways.
Title: Dracunculiasis: a forgotten disease of a forgotten people
Date: c1991
Run Time: 14 min.
Names: Hoffman, Dorothy World Health Organization
Abstract: This program explores dracunculiasis, also known as guinea-worm, found in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. It describes the life cycle of the cyclops, a tiny aquatic crustacean that carries the larvae of the guinea worm, and the life cycle of the worm itself. When humans consume water containing cyclops, the guinea-worm larvae is ingested and matures inside the human host, eventually working its way out through a sore on the skin. The disease's symptoms and socio-economic implications are discussed, as are methods of prevention through health education and simple sanitation practices.
Title: Do we still need to die of malaria?
Date: 1992
Run Time: 14 min.
Names: Anenden, Harrikrisna World Health Organization
Abstract: This program uses three case studies to illustrate the continuing threat of malaria in Africa, in particular for those who live in villages without adequate health facilities, or who wait too long to seek medical help. It describes protection and prevention methods, emphasizes prompt recognition and treatment of malaria, and shows the role of the WHO-trained community health worker, who in turn educates villagers.
Title: The sand killer
Date: c1994
Run Time: 9 min.
Names: United Nations Development Program World Health Organization
Abstract: This program examines the prevalence of leishmaniasis in Sudan. Many people are infected (50 percent are children) and medication to treat the condition is costly. The "visceral" form of leishmaniasis affects internal organs and is fatal if left untreated. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is disfiguring but does not kill. Insecticides help but aren't cost-effective unless used in areas where the disease is concentrated. The program concludes by noting that the best hope for combating the disease is a vaccine, on which researchers are working.
Title: Tanzania: the vicious circle
Date: c1995
Run Time: 9 min.
Names: United Nations Development Program World Health Organization
Abstract: This video follows a young boy as he starts out for school from his village in Tanzania, an hour-long walk. His route takes him past stagnant ponds and over streams that harbor the organism that transmits schistosomiasis, a disease that causes enlargement of the liver and spleen as well as weakness and fatigue. The boy and his fellow students are shown at school being tested for schistosomiasis, and health-care workers discuss treatment options.
Title: Protecting ourselves and our communities from cholera
Date: c2000
Run Time: 41 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This is a training video aimed at helping communities and health workers understand the causes, symptoms, and transmission of cholera, how to prepare for an outbreak, and how to manage and document an outbreak if it occurs. It recommends surveillance activities by health workers to identify areas of poor sanitation and hygiene, unsafe cooking practices, and the like. The role of oral rehydration salts (ORS) in treating cholera is emphasized over IVs or anti-virals.
Title: Kichocho: a story about schistosomiasis
Date: c1991
Run Time: 20 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: Set on Pemba Island in Zanzibar, this video explains schistosomiasis from the perspective of a young boy who contracts the disease. Life in Pemba is described: an economy based on fishing and growing fruits; tropical diseases residents must contend with. The little boy describes becoming sick, learning about schistosomiasis from health workers who visit his school, and receiving treatment. Preventative measures that villagers can take individually and as a community are detailed, including building latrines and not playing near pools of water where snails that transmit disease may live.
Title: Lymphatic filariasis: a winnable battle
Date: c2002
Run Time: 18 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This program examines prevention and treatment to reduce the incidence of and damage done by lymphatic filariasis (LF), also known as elephantiasis because of the gross swelling of limbs and genitals caused by the disease. The parasite that causes LF can only live and breed in humans, and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Coordinated efforts by governments, foundations, and pharmaceutical companies to prevent, treat, and even eliminate the disease are profiled. A new antigen test can identify the disease in humans through a simple finger prick, and available drugs are safe and effective, though they must be taken annually for several years to completely eliminate the disease. Community health workers who help villagers manage the mild side effects of the drug and encourage them to continue taking the medication are a critical part of the campaign.
Title: Ebola haemorrhagic fever
Date: 1997
Run Time: 49 min.
Names: World Health Organization
Abstract: This video was produced for use in training health personnel, particularly in Africa, to respond to outbreaks of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Divided into five segments, it covers all aspects of the emergency response, from identifying cases and investigating outbreaks to preventing further transmission and dealing with the press. Safety precautions that must be taken in hospitals are addressed in detail. The video includes footage recorded during earlier outbreaks, particularly in Kikwit, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the mid-1990s.