ATV Today: 30.08.1978: Smallpox Alert in Birmingham

Summary

Smallpox Alert in Birmingham. Birmingham's top medical experts meet to decide whether or not there was cause for alarm after confirmation that Janet Parker had definitely contracted the disease at Birmingham Medical School.

Year:

1978

Duration:

0:03:17

Film type:

Colour / Sound

Company:

ATV

Master format:

16mm

Description

Brief shot of press conference. Lynda Berry interview with Health Authority spokesman, Paul Castle, about there being no cause for alarm, particularly as all known contacts of Mrs Parker had been isolated in quarantine. Also explaining the reasons why Birmingham University was holding smallpox virus for experiments and not destroyed as instructed by the World Health Organisation. There are questions surrounding her initial treatment at East Birmngham Hospital where she was not isolated. Bob Warman interview with Denise Gaiger, a reporter for the Birmingham Evening Mail, who was a suspect after contacting Mrs Parker's husband, about the quarantine period she was put under and how she was eventually cleared. Lynda Berry interview with Dr. Alasdair Geddes about the dangers of vaccination for smallpox, with its very unpleasant side-effects.


Credits

No credits specified