Summary: From SARS to the swine flu, viruses that threaten the developed world seem to be growing in ranks. Even as medical science rises to the challenge, our knowledge of viruses is filled with troubling gaps and bewildering realities. Starting on the virus front lines-the rainforests of central Africa-this program unlocks the truth about nature's greatest terror weapons. Viewers learn why HIV is such...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: What did the 2009 swine-origin H1N1 outbreak teach us about how to prepare for future pandemics? This program addresses the issue by traveling to viral hot spots around the world and interviewing high-ranking disease-prevention experts. Viewers learn about the basics of influenza microbiology, the factors that distinguish swine-origin H1N1 from a seasonal virus, its mechanisms for spreading,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Smallpox has officially been eradicated worldwide—but the destruction of lab cultures in government-sponsored biowar facilities was never monitored. A blend of dramatization and documentary, this program considers the weaponization and deployment of smallpox—or, by extension, any lethal virus—from preexisting stockpiles and by laboratory manufacture from mail order genetic material and online...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: New and lethal strains of TB are emerging worldwide which cannot be treated by conventional drugs. One estimate puts the number of new MDR TB cases per year as high as 400,000. After 40 years without any research into new drugs, the race is on to find a cure for MDR TB. This program travels between Peru and South Korea as it examines both the current impact of TB super strains in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: When polio vaccines were first developed, many experts thought the disease would be fully eradicated within decades. Tragically, as this film shows, it has survived in places like Afghanistan and northern Nigeria. These locations are now acting as disease reservoirs, with children the hardest-hit demographic and with travelers re-infecting other countries once thought invulnerable....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
View online at AVOD
Summary: February 21, 2003, was just a normal day at Hotel Metropole in Hong Kong—until a guest, infected with SARS, became patient zero for an epidemic that rapidly infected people in dozens of countries around the world. This program—part dramatization, part documentary—illustrates how the SARS virus spread and was gradually contained. In addition, virology experts shed light on topics ranging from...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Avian influenza A (H5N1) has successfully made the leap from poultry to people. Is a human-to-human pandemic inevitable? Using Southeast Asia as a case study, this Wide Angle report looks at the Vietnamese government's efforts to contain the disease while educating its population. In addition, Bill Moyers speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institutes of Health, about how this lethal...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: A killer flu outbreak isn't just a developing-world nightmare. The influenza virus is so adaptable that the West is as vulnerable as anywhere else. This program outlines the history of influenza and explores current research into what steps, if any, might prevent a future flu pandemic. Viewers are shown how the virus mutates to resist vaccines and has an uncanny ability to jump species...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: An avian influenza epidemic will almost certainly begin where poultry is slaughtered in poorly managed, unsanitary conditions. This semi-dramatized program starts in rural Cambodia, where a mutated H5N1 virus spreads easily from an infected chicken into the local population and prompts a swift response from World Health Organization field workers. Depicting the WHO containment strategy in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In an increasingly global society, disease outbreaks are on the rise-and so is the need for epidemiology expertise. This program introduces students to vital information regarding the transmission, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, vectors, prevention, and control of several communicable diseases. Students receive vital information on zoonotic diseases such as SARS, Rift Valley fever,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The prescription of antibiotics is a medical tightrope-walk. The drugs save lives, but, because of overuse, may soon usher in a new era of super-germs. This program outlines the discoveries of bacteria and penicillin and sheds light on the frightening emergence of multi-resistant, often deadly microbes during the last six decades. Presenting interviews with researchers who are deeply involved...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Flying home from Hawaii, where he has met with a group of Chinese business contacts, salesman Michael Peterson begins to feel ill. This program presents the frightening consequences of his journey, which has transformed him into America's Patient Zero-an unwitting carrier of the deadly, Asian-born H5N1 virus. Peterson soon infects his own son, other inhabitants of his California suburb, and,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: According to the American Lung Association, flu and pneumonia are jointly ranked as the seventh leading cause of death in the United States-hence, the critical importance of flu and pneumococcus vaccines in preparation for winter. This program outlines the science behind influenza and pneumonia and the conditions, both hygienic and environmental, that contribute to the spread of dangerous...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Rabies, Lyme disease, West Nile virus-all are examples of zoonosis, an infection that can be transmitted to humans from animals. In this program, several experts discuss major zoonotic diseases of concern, as well as outline safety tips for both people and pets. Dr. Wendy Walker, president of the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association; Joe Conlon, medical entomologist with the American...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: On World AIDS Day 2003, WHO and UNAIDS released a detailed and concrete plan to reach the 3 by 5 target of providing antiretroviral treatment to three million people living with AIDS in developing countries and those in transition by the end of 2005. It was a vital step toward the ultimate goal of providing universal access to AIDS treatment to all those who need it. This program travels to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: How does an organism carried by insects become an instrument of mass destruction? Can malaria be defeated or at least neutralized? What political and economic forces influence the battle against the disease? This program investigates social and scientific issues surrounding malaria and shows how the parasite wreaks havoc-especially in Africa, where it causes more deaths than AIDS. Explaining...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Despite the highest sanitary and medical standards, diseases once extremely rare in developed nations are now on the rise. Has ultra-hygienic living unwittingly made us the enemies of our oldest allies? This program examines compelling evidence for the "hygiene hypothesis," which suggests that indiscriminate war on all microscopic organisms may be bad for our health. Immunologists,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006