Medicine in the Tropics (Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., 1948)

The medical problems and medical care of the workers on the Firestone Rubber Company plantations in Liberia are presented and discussed, with accompanying footage. The most common diseases in the region are schistosomiasis, malaria, yaws, goiter, intestinal worms, the dysenteries, the filariases, traumatic injuries, and pulmonary, bone, and skin diseases. Smallpox is the most common of the infectious diseases. Spraying, ditching, and cutting back vegetation are done in an attempt to limit the habitat of the pathogens and vectors. Latrines are inspected. The people are immunized against smallpox. In heavily populated areas, water is impounded, filtered, and chlorinated. Trained medical orderlies work in the plantation clinics, giving first aid, caring for minor ailments, making mass survey of diseases such as sleeping sickness. Acutely ill patients are taken to the plantation hospital, to be cared for by an American doctor and trained hospital and laboratory staff. Shots include: African natives in village, stream, and field activities; Liberian landscapes and rubber plantations; outdoor clinic activities; the plantation hospital exterior, outpatient department with American doctor examining a patient, the surgical ward, a technician taking a blood sample, the hospital laboratory, the X-ray room, the operating room, patients convalescing outdoors, the plantation isolation hospital, three cases of smallpox, elephantoid scrotum, unilateral gynomastia, testing for trypanosomiasis, open drop anesthesia; Harvey S. Firestone, Sr. and Jr. Learn more about this film and search its transcript at NLM Digital Collections: http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/8800535A Learn more about the National Library of Medicine's historical audiovisuals program at: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/collectio...