Battle with the bugs.

Six part series on major developments in medicine since the inauguration of the NHS fifty years ago. "Part 1: Battle with the Bugs" Describes the revolution which took place in TB treatment with the introduction of streptomycin in the early 1950s. Feature film and public information film clips illustrate the shame and fear previously associated with the illness, and show TB treatment and sanatorium life. Prof. Sir John Crofton describes the 1949 streptomycin drug trials, in which he took part. Mass screenings, to identify undiagnosed TB in the community, first took place in Scotland and were a favourite newsreel topic. But the cost of TB treatment has always been too great for the Third World. There, the disease continued untreated, aggravated by the arrival of HIV which threatens to bring about untreatable tuberculosis. This may spread to the West, where HIV, poverty and homelessness have combined to produce a resurgence of drug-resistant TB.