This 1946 U.S. Navy medical film about Asiatic Schistosomiasis, better known as Schistosomiasis Japonicum, a human blood fluke that occurs in China and Philippines and also in Sri Lanka. The film shows how the disease can be detected, treated, and also prevented. It includes various footage shot in the field in China and Southeast Asia, showing the water and irrigation systems that help breed the parasite. At 4:48, women who are washing clothes in a river, and children bathing in a jungle pool, are susceptible to the disease. At 5:12, soldiers on bivouac are seen becoming exposed. At 6:30, a soldier exhibiting symptoms is examined by a doctor in a quonset hut examining room. At 9:49, the doctor presses on his stomach and liver/spleen to assess his pain level. At 12:28, a woman with a profound case of the disease is shown with her stomach greatly expanded. At 12:47, treatment is administered in the quonset hut hospital. Oleovitamin concentrate A& D is shown in use along with other drugs. At 14:00, the film discusses prevention of the disease. At 14:30, school children are shown at a jungle village. Samples of blood are taken from various animals in the vicinity of the village to determine if they have worms or the presence of the disease. Rats are caught at 15:30 with Victor traps, to autopsy them and look for signs of the disease. Findings are documented and tissue samples examined under a microscope at 17:20. Snail shells which serve as hosts are seen at 18:20. At 18:58, calcium hypochlorite is added to water supplies to sterilize them. At 20:30, a sign is put up in the field warning that the “Japanese Blood Fluke is more dangerous than Japanese soldiers”. At 21:18, water supplies are shown being chlorinated, and at 21:29 a military tent is shown.
The disease (also known as Katayama disease , Katayama syndrome , urticarial fever, or Yangtze Valley fever) is an infection with the parasite Schistosoma japonicum, characterized by dysenteric symptoms, painful enlargement of the liver and spleen, dropsy, urticaria, and progressive anemia. Schistosoma japonicum is an important parasite and one of the major infectious agents of schistosomiasis.This parasite has a very wide host range, infecting at least 31 species of wild mammals, including 9 carnivores, 16 rodents, one primate (Human), two insectivores and three artiodactyls and therefore it can be considered a true zoonosis.
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