WEBVTT 00:00:01.433 --> 00:00:09.999 [Music] 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:16.800 [Your Tuberculosis Association presents] 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:23.666 [Produced by Leslie Roush Productions, Inc., Supervised by Film Counselors, Inc.] 00:00:23.666 --> 00:00:33.666 [Music] 00:00:33.666 --> 00:00:36.666 [Narrator:] Hello there. 00:00:36.666 --> 00:00:39.332 Do you know what we've just been looking at? 00:00:39.333 --> 00:00:47.899 Well, the thin little red rods you saw were tubercle bacilli, the germs that give people tuberculosis. 00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:50.866 Maybe you didn't get a very clear look at them. 00:00:50.866 --> 00:00:56.732 So come on, better take another look. 00:00:56.733 --> 00:00:58.566 There they are. 00:00:58.566 --> 00:01:04.232 Tiny, but dangerous, murderous little things that can destroy people's lungs. 00:01:04.233 --> 00:01:09.533 These are only a few of the millions of TB germs that live in the lungs of a person 00:01:09.533 --> 00:01:11.899 who has tuberculosis. 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:15.966 'Course, the germs aren't naturally red. 00:01:15.966 --> 00:01:22.632 These have been stained and magnified about a thousand times so we could see them. 00:01:22.633 --> 00:01:28.199 Incredibly small these tubercle bacilli, these TB germs. 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:38.200 Why they're so very small that...well, take this common ordinary straight pin. 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:43.833 If you drew a line across the head of this pin, you could place about four thousand tubercle bacilli on it, 00:01:43.833 --> 00:01:56.199 side-by-side, and it would take over one million TB germs to cover the whole head of the pin. 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:03.233 This is an electron microscope. 00:02:03.233 --> 00:02:10.966 Let's see what one single tubercle bacillus looks like through this. 00:02:10.966 --> 00:02:18.532 Well, there he is, Mr. Tubercle Bacillus himself, magnified to forty eight thousand times 00:02:18.533 --> 00:02:20.933 his natural size. 00:02:20.933 --> 00:02:23.933 Not a very happy-looking specimen, is he? 00:02:23.933 --> 00:02:26.166 Powerful kind of enemy, though. 00:02:26.166 --> 00:02:33.699 He and trillions of his fellow parasites have been killing human beings since the beginning of history. 00:02:33.700 --> 00:02:37.433 For centuries tuberculosis was called the white plague. 00:02:37.433 --> 00:02:42.799 It destroyed masses of people, and it was only about seventy years ago that we discovered 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:45.433 the identity of this germ. 00:02:45.433 --> 00:02:48.999 Since that time we've learned a lot about tuberculosis. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:57.833 How to fight it, how to cure it, how to keep TB germs from spreading and infecting all of us. 00:02:57.833 --> 00:03:00.333 But there's still a long way to go. 00:03:00.333 --> 00:03:06.399 To fight anything effectively, you've got to know what it is, how it fights us. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:11.833 That's why I'm giving you this inside look at TB. 00:03:11.833 --> 00:03:19.066 Tuberculosis is mostly an airborne infection. You don't inherit it, you're not born with it. 00:03:19.066 --> 00:03:25.566 You breath in the germs, somebody who has tuberculosis passes it onto you. 00:03:25.566 --> 00:03:32.966 Well, something like this. 00:03:32.966 --> 00:03:39.632 Now this is what happens when you sneeze or cough without covering your mouth. 00:03:39.633 --> 00:03:45.099 Now, if the person who sneezes or coughs has tuberculosis, just imagine how many 00:03:45.100 --> 00:03:50.666 of these tiny germs might be clinging to the droplets in the spray. 00:03:50.666 --> 00:03:53.832 Anyone might breathe them into his lungs. 00:03:53.833 --> 00:03:59.866 But some of the droplets fall to the ground, dry up, and mix with the dust, 00:03:59.866 --> 00:04:02.832 and TB germs stay alive a long time. 00:04:02.833 --> 00:04:11.566 Under favorable conditions, the tubercle bacilli can stay alive in dust for months. 00:04:11.566 --> 00:04:17.699 Could be a million TB germs floating around in the dust particles you see there, 00:04:17.700 --> 00:04:29.500 just waiting for someone to breathe them in, to draw them down into his lungs. 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:35.166 Lungs, you know, are the part of the human body where TB germs usually grow. 00:04:35.166 --> 00:04:38.966 Sometimes they attack other internal organs, even our bones, 00:04:38.966 --> 00:04:42.466 but most of the time they get at our lungs. 00:04:42.466 --> 00:04:48.899 You see, the lungs are made up of a network of branching tubes leading into tiny air sacs. 00:04:48.900 --> 00:04:54.966 The lungs' air passages are exactly the right size for catching TB germs, 00:04:54.966 --> 00:04:58.766 and each air sac is, well, something like this. 00:04:58.766 --> 00:05:01.766 Of course this isn't the right size. 00:05:01.766 --> 00:05:12.432 If you breathe in TB germs, they're carried through the tube, and they're trapped in the air sac. 00:05:12.433 --> 00:05:18.399 They infect the lung tissues all around the sac, causing an intense inflammation. 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:21.166 Some of the surrounding cells die. 00:05:21.166 --> 00:05:27.732 If this progresses to any extent, a cavity is formed. 00:05:27.733 --> 00:05:33.266 If left unchecked the disease will spread. 00:05:33.266 --> 00:05:40.199 There will be more and more cavities and the person will eventually die. 00:05:40.200 --> 00:05:44.100 Most of us have TB germs in our bodies at one time or another, 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:48.933 but in most cases active tuberculosis does not develop. 00:05:48.933 --> 00:05:53.599 That's because a healthy body fights back. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:06:00.533 A healthy body surrounds the germs with a wall of white blood cells. 00:06:00.533 --> 00:06:03.266 This is a called a tubercle. 00:06:03.266 --> 00:06:09.966 The germs may stay alive inside this tubercle for years, held in check by strong body defenses. 00:06:09.966 --> 00:06:17.832 But if a healthy body is weakened by illness, overwork, exhausting play, inadequate food, 00:06:17.833 --> 00:06:23.933 any number of things, the wall may break down, allowing the TB germs to escape, 00:06:23.933 --> 00:06:28.866 and start their cycle of infection all over again. 00:06:28.866 --> 00:06:33.299 You know quite often people have TB without even knowing it. 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:39.133 That's what makes it so difficult to find tuberculosis: to prevent it, to cure it. 00:06:39.133 --> 00:06:42.399 There are a number of ways to find TB. 00:06:42.400 --> 00:06:47.633 You can tell whether infection has taken place by a tuberculin test. 00:06:47.633 --> 00:06:53.333 This is commonly done by a small injection into the skin. 00:06:53.333 --> 00:06:57.499 A tuberculin test can also be applied with a patch of adhesive tape, 00:06:57.500 --> 00:07:03.600 but the tuberculin test alone is not enough. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:07.866 One of the best tools we have for finding TB is the chest X-ray. 00:07:07.866 --> 00:07:12.366 Modern X-ray equipment can take a clear picture of your lungs. 00:07:12.366 --> 00:07:15.932 It can show doctors where the TB germs have damaged your lungs, 00:07:15.933 --> 00:07:21.733 long before you would feel sick or show any apparent symptoms. 00:07:21.733 --> 00:07:26.066 This is a simple, easy, quick way to find TB. 00:07:26.066 --> 00:07:32.232 A chest x-ray can disclose tuberculosis just when the damage has been started. 00:07:32.233 --> 00:07:38.899 This is when the disease is easiest to cure. 00:07:38.900 --> 00:07:44.933 The person with active TB is a danger to the people he lives and works with. 00:07:44.933 --> 00:07:46.899 He should be kept apart from them. 00:07:46.900 --> 00:07:52.466 This is one of the important reasons for a tuberculosis hospital. 00:07:52.466 --> 00:07:57.299 A TB hospital is a cure and preventive all at once. 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:05.233 Slowly, through proper care, proper facilities, trained personnel, the TB germs are overcome. 00:08:05.233 --> 00:08:10.866 The patient heals, and by being isolated, the sick person doesn't spread his germs 00:08:10.866 --> 00:08:13.732 to his family and friends. 00:08:13.733 --> 00:08:17.933 By wearing protective clothing and by special handling of garments, bedclothing, 00:08:17.933 --> 00:08:24.399 food and other articles, the doctors and nurses prevent the germs from spreading. 00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:31.433 Only in a hospital can a TB patient get the best medical, nursing, and surgical care, 00:08:31.433 --> 00:08:38.699 and only in a hospital can a person sick with TB get the kind of rest he needs. 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:44.033 And rest is still the basic cure for TB. 00:08:44.033 --> 00:08:49.699 Let's look at an X-ray motion picture of the human chest in action and you'll see why. 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:56.533 Notice how the heart beats, how the lungs move rhythmically as the person breathes. 00:08:56.533 --> 00:08:59.899 This person is at rest in a hospital. 00:08:59.900 --> 00:09:06.033 The lung is quiet and has a chance to heal, to fight off the germs. 00:09:06.033 --> 00:09:10.299 Here are the lungs of a person who has been exercising or running. 00:09:10.300 --> 00:09:15.700 This kind of breathing expands the lungs, stretches the lung tissues, makes the cavities 00:09:15.700 --> 00:09:20.800 caused by TB germs much harder to heal. 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:27.400 That's why the right kind of rest, the hospital kind of rest, is necessary to cure tuberculosis. 00:09:27.400 --> 00:09:35.200 You know, once in a while it's advisable to make a lung almost or entirely still until it heals. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.300 One way to do this is pneumothorax. 00:09:39.300 --> 00:09:43.433 Air is introduced into the chest through a needle. 00:09:43.433 --> 00:09:51.499 The air moves around the lung, the lung moves back from the chest wall, has very little work to do, 00:09:51.500 --> 00:09:56.900 and has a chance to heal much faster. 00:09:56.900 --> 00:10:00.800 Another way of putting the lung at rest is called pneumoperitoneum. 00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:08.400 In this method air is forced up under the diaphragm and partially collapses both lungs, 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:15.200 allowing them to rest until they're healed. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:19.500 If part of the lung is badly diseased, it's no use to you. 00:10:19.500 --> 00:10:23.600 This is where the surgeon enters the tuberculosis picture. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:29.266 By an operation called thoracoplasty, he can collapse the lung permanently. 00:10:29.266 --> 00:10:35.099 That is, he removes sections of rib over the diseased area. 00:10:35.100 --> 00:10:43.966 The chest wall moves in to immobilize the damaged lung. 00:10:43.966 --> 00:10:48.232 Under certain conditions, the surgeon will remove the diseased part 00:10:48.233 --> 00:10:54.666 and let the healthy part of the lung take over. 00:10:54.666 --> 00:10:59.866 This is called resection. 00:10:59.866 --> 00:11:08.166 In many cases, a larger area, or even an entire lung is taken out. 00:11:08.166 --> 00:11:13.399 Now, there's something else I want to talk about. 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:19.233 The wonderful exciting new drugs that are being discovered and developed all of the time. 00:11:19.233 --> 00:11:25.266 Drugs that prevent TB germs from multiplying, drugs that have made possible great advances in 00:11:25.266 --> 00:11:31.399 all phases of tuberculosis treatment. 00:11:31.400 --> 00:11:38.000 Both of these test tubes were inoculated with the same number of TB germs at the same time. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:41.900 One tube contained a small amount of a new drug. 00:11:41.900 --> 00:11:48.633 Since that time, in this tube, the TB germs have multiplied by the billions, 00:11:48.633 --> 00:11:55.799 but in this one containing the drug no growth has taken place. 00:11:55.800 --> 00:12:02.166 But even the best of drugs cannot heal a lung already partly destroyed by TB germs. 00:12:02.166 --> 00:12:11.466 Surgery with rest and other treatment has a big part to play in curing TB. 00:12:11.466 --> 00:12:17.732 So science has discovered many ways to find TB to cure it. 00:12:17.733 --> 00:12:24.666 But remember, tuberculosis doesn't always develop when TB germs get into the lungs. 00:12:24.666 --> 00:12:31.099 Many people can resist the germs. 00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:40.266 How people live, what they eat, how they work, play, the kinds of houses they live in, 00:12:40.266 --> 00:12:43.232 what they know about good health practices. 00:12:43.233 --> 00:12:47.633 These are also important in the prevention of tuberculosis. 00:12:47.633 --> 00:12:57.866 In fact, it's just as important to improve human living conditions as it is to fight TB germs directly. 00:12:57.866 --> 00:13:05.499 You know in the United States, we have high standards of living, excellent TB hospitals. 00:13:05.500 --> 00:13:07.733 Many, many x-rays are taken. 00:13:07.733 --> 00:13:18.533 But still, even so, TB kills more people between the ages of 15 and 35 than any other disease. 00:13:18.533 --> 00:13:24.166 Right now in this country there are about 400,000 people with active tuberculosis, 00:13:24.166 --> 00:13:31.832 and the frightening thing is, three out of four of these people are not in hospitals. 00:13:31.833 --> 00:13:39.466 So there's still a tremendous job to do throughout the world. 00:13:39.466 --> 00:13:45.132 Among millions of people TB control has hardly been started. 00:13:45.133 --> 00:13:52.633 In many countries TB still kills more people than any other disease. 00:13:52.633 --> 00:13:59.766 Now we, we started with a germ so tiny that only a powerful microscope could reveal it, 00:13:59.766 --> 00:14:06.299 and now this little germ has led us into a battle so big that it involves the whole world. 00:14:06.300 --> 00:14:07.566 [Music] 00:14:07.566 --> 00:14:15.266 A battle we have to fight with all the technical tools at our command, a battle we must win: 00:14:15.266 --> 00:14:19.866 the battle against tuberculosis. 00:14:19.866 --> 00:14:28.932 [Music] 00:14:28.933 --> 00:14:44.866 [Through your purchases of Christmas Seals your tuberculosis association fights TB] 00:14:44.866 --> 00:14:57.032 [The End, National Tuberculosis Association, Copyright 1953]