[330.DVIC.25761]
(Hooting) [The United States Navy presents]
(Hooting bass, grating high notes) [The Return of Count Spirochete]
[A Cautionary Tale MN. 11215]
(Shrill metallic clanging)
(Trumpet salute) [Communicable Disease of the Year Award Tonite]
(Applause)
[National Archives - www.archives.gov]
The moment you have been waiting for
The climax of the evening
The presentation of the Fourth Horseman Award
(Squeaking)
to the Communicable Disease of the Year
As you know, the Microbe Academy makes this award each year
to the disease who has done the most effective job
of contaminating others,
causing epidemics, (Whispers)
spreading virulence
and infecting mankind in general.
May I have the envelope please?
This year, for the first time in centuries
the coveted Fourth Horseman Award goes to...
Venereal Disease! (Applause)
Let's have a big hand, folks! (Applause)
(Count Spirochete) I am deeply moved y this singular tribute to my life's work.
It is a great honor.
In accepting this award in the name of all my fellow veneral diseases
I wish to thank everyone out there in the world,
those marvelous human beings
without whose cooperation the award would not have been possible
(Other germs grumble)
(Flu' germ) Wait a minute, wait a minute.
(Coughs) What about me?
I'm still the number one communic--communicable
Achoo
(Death) True, true.
but you must admit you're not particularly lethal.
You're more of a nuisance than anything else.
I mean, you're not really Big League.
(Smallpox germ) Well, what about me?
Speaking of Big Leagues,
I've scarred and disfigured millions of people.
(Death) You've been under control for years.
You see, in making our decision,
we have carefully considered all your attributes.
You diphtheria, and tuberculosis, scarlet fever,
you were all great in your day.
But all of you put together are no match for venereal disease.
Let me put his work in proper perspective.
This is my good friend, Count Spirochete,
better known to all of you as Syphilis.
Oh, there are many forms of venereal disease, but he is the aristocrat!
(Gonorrhea) Hold it, hold it! I'm a venereal disease too!
And I attack twenty times more people than the Count.
(Death) Ah, my old friend Gonorrhea - crude little fellow.
Quite effective, though.
You're right, you do infect twenty times more people than syphilis.
(Count Spirochete) But I, count Spirochete, kill!
Kill!
(KnocksI (Gonorrhea) Hullo?
(Death) True, Count.
In fact, in the United States, far more people have died from syphilis
than from all other communicable diseases put together.
But let's not argue among old friends.
You are both very effective in your own ways.
Over 100'000 people in the United States alone contract syphilis each year
and two million are attacked by gonorrhea.
(Gonorrhea) Yeah!
(Whooping Cough [?])I thought that (coughs) after World War II, with the advent of penicillin,
the venereal diseases were practically eradicated.
(Death) So everyone thought.
But venereal disease, like all of mankind's plagues, has its ups and downs.
It comes and goes, just like the whims of man himself.
Of course, we know that syphilis and his venereal companions
have existed since the origin of mankind.
But until the end of the 15th century,
there is little evidence to show that he exerted much influence in the civilized world.
In fact, until the middle of the Renaissance, (Howling wind)
my friend the Count lay quite dormant.
(Howling wind)
[Spirochete]
(Howling wind)
(Marching)
(Howling wind)
(Marching)
(Howling wind and rusty cranking)
(Marching)
(Rusty cranking and marching)
(Count Spirochete) Finally, after all of these years, an army on the move!
(Military stepping)
Ah, they are playing my song (laughs).
(Wind blowing)
(Death) Historians are uncertain where it was first introduced on a large scale
but there is no doubt as to when nor to how the disease spread.
In the 1490's, the first great syphilis epidemic broke out in Europe,
following in the footsteps of the mercenary armies of the time.
The soldiers and their camp followers carried the disease wherever they traveled.
(Marching)
Within a few short years, syphilis had established a firm foothold on the civilized world.
The Renaissance heralded an age of exploration.
If ever there was a time just right for the spread of venereal disease, it was then.
It was a time of scientific curiosity, of intellectual conquest
-- as well as other types of conquests.
For three and half centuries, little was known about the disease,
except that it left in its wake millions of people who were scarred, crippled, driven mad
and eventually, killed.
It was not until the 1800's that medical science discovered
that there were actually two principal diseases: syphilis and gonorrhea.
Gonococcus, the coffee-bean shaped germ causing gonorrhea, was identified first.
And then, in 1905, using a special laboratory technique,
a doctor unmasked the spirochete, the corkscrew shaped microbe that causes syphilis.
At last, after centuries of human misery,
doctors were able to discover the true nature of venereal disease.
Unlike common germs that travel in food or through the air on particles of dust
or on the bodies of insects,
venereal disease microbes generally cannot stay alive outside of the body.
The spirochete and the gonococcus, to survive, must live inside the body.
They can travel only when carried by the normal body fluids.
For the germs to spread from one person to another,
there must be an unbroken moist intimate skin to skin contact.
(Romantic music)
Syphilis and gonorrhea attack the body differently.
Let's look at gonorrhea first.
To get inside the body,
he has to get through the tender mucous membrane that lines all the body exits.
In the man, his most common entry point is the tube inside the penis, called the urethra.
The gonococcus begins attacking the membrane immediately.
Within 3 to 8 days, enough of the membrane has been perforated
that urination causes a fierce burning sensation.
(Burning noise)
As the body fights back, another clear-cut symptom can be easily seen:
the formation of pus.
A thick fluid will drip from the penis.
The pus, which contains millions of gonococcus germs,
is the vehicle that transmits the disease.
So, as soon as the pus appears, the man knows he is infectious,
that is, he is capable of passing the disease on to someone else.
In the woman, the gonococcus usually establishes a foothold in the body
by attacking the mucous membrane at the entrance to the uterus.
Unlike the painful symptoms in the man,
the damage in the woman will probably not result in any pain at all.
And even though the infection produces pus,
it is not as easy to notice in the woman as it is in the man.
Yet the woman is just as infections as the man,
even though there are no obvious symptoms
and even though she may be unaware she has contracted the disease.
She may never suspect anything is wrong until the disease has caused a lot of damage.
For example, during childbirth, the baby travels in close contact with the infected passage.
If the gonococcus gets into the baby's eyes, it causes blindness.
This is why most states have laws requiring special medication in the eyes of all newborn babies.
If untreated, gonorrhea works its way further into the reproductive system.
It can strangle the tube that carries the egg to the uterus.
(Samba music)
For all practical purposes, the woman is sterile.
In the same manner, gonorrhea can strangle the tube carrying the sperm
from its point of manufacture, thus sterilizing the man as well.
Without proper medical treatment,
there is a good chance that the gonococcus will eventually get into the bloodstream
and spread throughout the body.
While gonorrhea rarely causes death,
it can produce painful joints, swellings, and ultimately, severe crippling.
(Samba music)
Syphilis, on the other hand, behaves differently.
It is more insidious.
The symptoms are more difficult to detect.
(whipping noise)
In the man, the spirochete usually enters through the outer skin on the penis.
The first sign that anything is wrong may be a small painless sore
which usually shows up at the exact place where the germ entered the body.
This is called a chancre.
The chancre, or any other sore caused by syphilis,
is the means by which the disease is transmitted.
It serves as a staging area
where the initial invaders pause to multiply.
In women, the spirochete usually enters through the wall of the vagina.
The danger here is that the chancre may go unnoticed
because it is hidden deep inside the body.
The spirochete's entry is not limited to the genital area.
It can enter any part of the skin surface where there is a small cut or abrasion,
provided that the abraded or broken skin comes in contact
with the chancre or lesion of an infectious person.
In time, the chancre will disappear.
This will happen whether proper medical treatment was applied
or the victim did nothing at all.
This leads many people to falsely assume the disease went away.
The spirochetes, having multiplied,
start boring through the wall of the blood vessels and the lymphatic system,
distributing themselves throughout the body.
This is the secondary stage of syphilis
and without proper medical examination, it is difficult to detect.
The main reason for this is the spirochete's unique theatrical ability,
often referred to as "the great imitator."
Syphilis mascarades as a variety of different illnesses.
The infected person may break out in a rash resembling anything from hives to measles.
He may suffer from sore throat,
become feverish,
lose patches of hair,
and break out in ugly raw sores, particularly in moist areas of the body.
Like the chancres, these rashes and sores are loaded with spirochetes
and any other person whose skin rubs against them may become infected with syphilis.
The infectious period for syphilis ranges from the time the first chancre appeared
all the way through the duration of the secondary symptoms.
This may last as long as two years.
Even after the infectious period is over,
a woman can pass on syphilis to her unborn baby through the umbilical chord.
Chances are that if this occurs, the baby will be born dead.
If not dead, then at least it will be born with congenital syphilis,
which will manifest itself in a number of cruel and crippling ways.
If, after the infectious period, syphilis is not treated,
serious damage to the body will begin to occur:
blindness, (Long musical note)
crippling, (Higher musical note)
insanity, (Higher musical note)
(Even higher musical note) and death.
(Rapid rhythm)
(Smallpox germ) If these guys are so great, how do they stack up against the body's natural immunity?
(Death) Still not convinced, eh?
Well, let me go on.
[The good guys] As you know, every human being
manufactures certain chemicals called antibodies.
They are designed to fight off invading germs.
[Gonorrhea - Syphillis - Microbe Hunters] This the body's natural immunity.
(Alarm bell) But gonorrhea is a very tough customer.
(Horse gallop) (Horseman) Charge!
(Death) Even if enough antibodies are manufactured to subdue an invasion of gonorrhea
(Explosion) quite a bit of damage may already have taken place.
But it is possible, in some cases, for the body to eventually overcome gonorrhea.
But syphilis is a far more formidable adversary
and can seldom be overcome by the body's natural immunity.
(Alarm bell - trumpet charge)
(Grating)
(Gallop)
(Whinnying)
(Gallop)
(Squeak)
(Count Spirochete) Good evening
(Embarrassed giggling - clanking)
[PC Hughes, M.D.] (Pastoral music)
(Death) The greatest threat to venereal disease
is the person who has the commonsense and courage to share his suspicions with a doctor.
Only a professional diagnosis can confirm or rule out the presence of a venereal disease.
And if the tests are positive, there is only one cure: the timely application of the right antibiotic.
(Pastoral music)
(Gallop + pastoral music)
[Bless our new home]
(Whinnying)
(Whistling sound, twice)
(Count Spirochete) Help! Help! Help!
I am powerless against the antibiotic.
They've discovered my weakness.
I'll -- I'll be eradicated.
For centuries, I've been invincible.
What can I do?
(Death) You have nothing to fear, my friend.
You have lost only one battle.
The war is not over yet.
You have a very strong ally.
(Count Spirochete) Ally?
(Death) Call it stigma.
There is a powerful stigma attached to venereal disease
and this means that young people are afraid to confide their suspicions in their parents
or even in their family doctor.
Because factual information is seldom discussed, misinformation abounds.
More ad more people are taking chances,
more and more people from all walks of life.
And there is no possible way in which a promiscuous person can tell
whether his or her companion is infectious or not.
And one infectious person can start a chain reaction
that rapidly spreads throughout an entire community,
cuts across social and economic boundaries
and even spans the country.
And so, my little friends, this is why, tonight, we honor the Count.
All of you have had your moment in the sun, so to speak,
and now the Count has earned his.
(Whooping cough germ - check) We're sorry we misjudged you.
(Smallpox germ) Ha, you have good and faithful friends.
(other germ, check) We wish you would forgive us.
(Flu germ) We respect you to the -- to the (sneezes)
to the end.
(Rattling) [We wish this film had a happy ending!]
(Count Spirochete) I think it has a very happy ending. (Rattling)
[In the United States, in one recent year, there were two million cases of Gonorrhea, and one hundred thousand cases of Syphilis]
The ending gets happier and happier! (Rattling)
[If this film acurately informs just a few people, -- and if it helps reduce some of the stigma and ignorance that prevails, --]
[it will deal a severe blow to the spread of venereal disease]
(Ominous music)
I'm beginning to think that maybe I don't like this ending, after all.
[Script by Don Peterson - Storyboard by Ken Duggan - Produced by Animation Art Associates, Inc.]
[Production supervision by the Film Division, Naval Medical Training Institute, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland]