| Description |
1 videodisc (DVD) (55 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in |
| Summary |
"Although they have been challenging scientists and researchers for over a century, viruses, those micro-organisms capable of causing the most terrible diseases and pandemics, are still an enigma for modern science. They can mutate, adapt and spread at a frightening speed. One hundred years after the pandemic of Spanish influenza which killed 25 million people in 1918-19, scientific teams are still trying to understand how that virus could have reached such a scale. This documentary looks at how scientists are working on samples of the lungs and brains of victims buried in the frozen earth of the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, in order to analyse the traces of the fatal virus, preserved thanks to the extremely low temperatures. Research programs for bacteriological weapons using viruses have been instigated by countries like the USA and ex-USSR. Once confined to a strategic and military environment under maximum security protection, there is now a risk that these fatal substances will provide sustenance for bio-terrorism. Yet although a virus may be synonymous with desease, it can be positive and beneficial in certain cases, and even an effective agent in the battle against disease, notably cancer. This documentary also looks at how clinical trials show that the H1 parvovirus may one day be able to halt the growth of cancerous tumours, and a mutant form of the herpes virus could eventually be used to treat skin cancers. (From France, in English and French, English subtitles) PG CC WS"--from website |
| Notes |
Off-air recording of SBS-TV broadcast September 3, 2006. Copied under Part VA of the Copyright Act |
| Credits |
Producer: Pierre-François Gaudry |
| Notes |
DVD |
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Rated: PG |
|
Available for Deakin University staff and students only |
| Subject |
Virology -- Research
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SARS (Disease) -- Epidemiology
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| Author |
Gaudry, Pierre-François
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SBS-TV
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