1 00:00:05,344 --> 00:00:08,137 WILLIAM SHATNER: From the plagues of Egypt 2 00:00:08,241 --> 00:00:10,275 to the black death, 3 00:00:10,379 --> 00:00:12,379 smallpox, 4 00:00:12,482 --> 00:00:14,000 cholera, 5 00:00:14,103 --> 00:00:16,034 and the Spanish flu, 6 00:00:16,103 --> 00:00:20,000 humans have repeatedly faced contagious diseases 7 00:00:20,103 --> 00:00:24,172 that have the power to change the course of history. 8 00:00:24,896 --> 00:00:28,068 We like to think that modern medicine 9 00:00:28,172 --> 00:00:31,793 can protect us against almost everything, but... 10 00:00:31,862 --> 00:00:33,724 is that really true? 11 00:00:33,793 --> 00:00:35,758 Or are we destined to face a future 12 00:00:35,862 --> 00:00:40,172 of ever more potent illnesses 13 00:00:40,275 --> 00:00:44,172 that attack without warning 14 00:00:44,275 --> 00:00:47,551 and can bring civilization to its knees? 15 00:00:47,655 --> 00:00:49,551 Well... 16 00:00:49,655 --> 00:00:50,551 [sucks air through teeth] 17 00:00:50,620 --> 00:00:53,344 ...that is what we'll try and find out. 18 00:00:53,413 --> 00:00:55,344 ♪ ♪ 19 00:01:10,620 --> 00:01:12,620 SHATNER: News reports surface that a new, 20 00:01:12,689 --> 00:01:17,137 highly contagious disease first discovered in Wuhan, China, 21 00:01:17,241 --> 00:01:20,172 is spreading like wildfire. 22 00:01:20,275 --> 00:01:22,482 In a matter of weeks, the lethal virus-- 23 00:01:22,586 --> 00:01:25,965 known as "coronavirus" or "COVID-19"-- 24 00:01:26,068 --> 00:01:27,689 sweeps the globe. 25 00:01:27,793 --> 00:01:29,344 On March 11, 26 00:01:29,448 --> 00:01:31,137 as the number of infections and deaths 27 00:01:31,241 --> 00:01:33,344 continue to climb, 28 00:01:33,448 --> 00:01:36,310 the World Health Organization declares 29 00:01:36,379 --> 00:01:40,206 that the outbreak has become a worldwide pandemic. 30 00:01:41,310 --> 00:01:43,517 RAJ DASGUPTA: What separates, clinically, 31 00:01:43,586 --> 00:01:47,862 coronavirus from other common viruses such as influenza 32 00:01:47,931 --> 00:01:50,724 is that it knows how to hide itself. 33 00:01:51,689 --> 00:01:57,034 It has what we call a period where you could be asymptomatic. 34 00:01:57,137 --> 00:01:59,103 That means without symptoms. 35 00:01:59,206 --> 00:02:02,689 That's a chance to pass that virus to other people, 36 00:02:02,793 --> 00:02:06,137 keeping the disease going on and spreading. 37 00:02:06,206 --> 00:02:08,620 Most of the time, when you wait for these symptoms, 38 00:02:08,724 --> 00:02:10,275 you've already missed it. 39 00:02:11,241 --> 00:02:12,965 SHATNER: In the wake of the harrowing effects 40 00:02:13,068 --> 00:02:15,034 of the coronavirus outbreak, 41 00:02:15,103 --> 00:02:17,275 scientists have been compelled to reexamine 42 00:02:17,344 --> 00:02:21,275 the nature of viruses themselves. 43 00:02:23,344 --> 00:02:25,482 Viruses are very mysterious, 44 00:02:25,586 --> 00:02:27,413 because you can't see them. 45 00:02:27,517 --> 00:02:29,931 You need a very powerful microscope 46 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,103 to be able to see them. 47 00:02:31,172 --> 00:02:34,241 And we didn't even know that they were around 48 00:02:34,310 --> 00:02:37,586 until relatively recently. 49 00:02:38,862 --> 00:02:41,896 KIRSTEN FISHER: A virus is essentially a bit of nucleic acid, 50 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,517 either DNA or RNA, 51 00:02:43,620 --> 00:02:46,482 encapsulated in some sort of coating. Right? 52 00:02:46,586 --> 00:02:50,344 So it needs to-- it needs to get into another organism 53 00:02:50,448 --> 00:02:54,448 and then essentially hijack that organism's cellular machinery 54 00:02:54,517 --> 00:02:57,344 to make more copies of itself. 55 00:02:58,758 --> 00:03:00,068 DASGUPTA: It needs to 56 00:03:00,137 --> 00:03:02,862 actually take over another living cell. 57 00:03:02,931 --> 00:03:05,413 And whether that's the living cell of a human, 58 00:03:05,517 --> 00:03:06,793 animal, 59 00:03:06,862 --> 00:03:09,931 plant or even a bacteria, 60 00:03:10,034 --> 00:03:11,448 it needs that. 61 00:03:11,551 --> 00:03:14,068 It's making more and more viruses 62 00:03:14,172 --> 00:03:15,896 till that cell is not needed anymore. 63 00:03:17,482 --> 00:03:20,241 FISHER: A virus relies on either 64 00:03:20,344 --> 00:03:23,586 direct transmission through sneezing or coughing 65 00:03:23,689 --> 00:03:25,379 or touching, um, a viral particle 66 00:03:25,448 --> 00:03:26,896 from a person who's expelled it. 67 00:03:28,758 --> 00:03:32,310 Or they rely on a mosquito or some other organism 68 00:03:32,379 --> 00:03:34,310 to be transmitted between people. 69 00:03:35,275 --> 00:03:37,206 And so the density of people 70 00:03:37,310 --> 00:03:40,586 will facilitate quicker spread of viruses, 71 00:03:40,655 --> 00:03:42,896 especially if it's, um, relatively contagious 72 00:03:42,965 --> 00:03:46,000 and-and easy to-to transfer from one person to another. 73 00:03:46,965 --> 00:03:48,758 SHATNER: According to experts, 74 00:03:48,862 --> 00:03:50,448 the origins of many viruses 75 00:03:50,551 --> 00:03:53,482 remain shrouded in mystery. 76 00:03:53,551 --> 00:03:55,241 DASGUPTA: It's so difficult 77 00:03:55,310 --> 00:03:57,931 to determine the origin of viruses because, 78 00:03:58,034 --> 00:04:00,103 when you want to study that virus, 79 00:04:00,206 --> 00:04:05,172 you have to separate what is the natural history of that cell. 80 00:04:05,241 --> 00:04:06,965 So one of the important things 81 00:04:07,034 --> 00:04:11,103 that epidemiologists are looking at right now is, 82 00:04:11,206 --> 00:04:13,310 what did we learn from the past? 83 00:04:13,379 --> 00:04:14,965 What should we be looking at? 84 00:04:15,068 --> 00:04:16,655 Where should we be looking? 85 00:04:18,724 --> 00:04:22,379 Some of the earliest records of plagues 86 00:04:22,482 --> 00:04:25,344 are found in ancient India, 87 00:04:25,413 --> 00:04:28,103 China, the Middle East, 88 00:04:28,172 --> 00:04:31,068 and they talk about plagues occurring 89 00:04:31,137 --> 00:04:33,310 before the very first civilization, 90 00:04:33,413 --> 00:04:36,206 around 3200 BC. 91 00:04:36,310 --> 00:04:38,379 SHATNER: Throughout human history, 92 00:04:38,448 --> 00:04:40,655 there have been accounts of devastating afflictions 93 00:04:40,724 --> 00:04:45,206 that defied understanding at the time they happened. 94 00:04:45,275 --> 00:04:48,724 But perhaps a closer examination of these plagues 95 00:04:48,827 --> 00:04:53,000 will provide some lessons about infectious diseases 96 00:04:53,068 --> 00:04:55,275 and how they begin. 97 00:04:57,172 --> 00:04:59,275 [gull calling] 98 00:05:03,758 --> 00:05:07,379 Emperor Justinian sits atop a powerful throne. 99 00:05:07,482 --> 00:05:10,965 But lurking in the shadows is a hidden enemy 100 00:05:11,034 --> 00:05:13,965 about to consume his kingdom. 101 00:05:15,172 --> 00:05:16,517 A plague 102 00:05:16,620 --> 00:05:19,000 started by a bacteria 103 00:05:19,103 --> 00:05:20,793 comes out of the East 104 00:05:20,862 --> 00:05:23,137 and infects. 105 00:05:23,241 --> 00:05:25,793 This simple bacteria 106 00:05:25,896 --> 00:05:27,758 ended up killing 107 00:05:27,827 --> 00:05:33,310 almost one half the population of the entire Old Empire. 108 00:05:33,413 --> 00:05:36,620 With that type of death toll, 109 00:05:36,689 --> 00:05:40,482 the economic and social ramifications 110 00:05:40,586 --> 00:05:42,241 were catastrophic. 111 00:05:42,310 --> 00:05:46,275 Everything that Justinian had tried 112 00:05:46,379 --> 00:05:47,482 was now collapsing. 113 00:05:47,586 --> 00:05:51,206 His military collapsed, his economy collapsed. 114 00:05:51,310 --> 00:05:54,172 And everything that he tried to do 115 00:05:54,241 --> 00:05:56,103 was of no avail. 116 00:05:56,206 --> 00:05:57,448 [coughing] 117 00:05:57,517 --> 00:06:00,793 FISHER: Justinian Plague is caused by a bacterium, 118 00:06:00,862 --> 00:06:02,551 Yersinia pestis. 119 00:06:02,655 --> 00:06:05,379 It can either enter humans directly, um, through-- 120 00:06:05,482 --> 00:06:07,413 from saliva or-or coughing. 121 00:06:07,482 --> 00:06:09,275 It usually manifests itself 122 00:06:09,344 --> 00:06:10,931 in terms of swelling of the lymph nodes. 123 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,551 The skin turns black and basically dies. 124 00:06:13,655 --> 00:06:15,172 And then there's a progression of fever 125 00:06:15,241 --> 00:06:17,034 and chills and eventual death. 126 00:06:18,137 --> 00:06:22,413 TZADOK: As Justinian's empire was collapsing and breaking 127 00:06:22,517 --> 00:06:25,586 and his military strength was waning-- 128 00:06:25,655 --> 00:06:28,413 because the science of medicine in those days 129 00:06:28,517 --> 00:06:31,586 was far more primitive than we have today. 130 00:06:31,689 --> 00:06:34,482 People cry out, "Why? 131 00:06:34,551 --> 00:06:36,482 Why is this happening?" 132 00:06:37,655 --> 00:06:40,517 SHATNER: The Plague of Justinian, as it became known, 133 00:06:40,586 --> 00:06:44,172 ultimately killed an estimated 50 million people. 134 00:06:44,241 --> 00:06:47,068 The vast Byzantine Empire was crippled 135 00:06:47,137 --> 00:06:49,482 not by an invading army 136 00:06:49,586 --> 00:06:54,896 but by an enemy they could not see and did not understand. 137 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:57,551 At the time, 138 00:06:57,655 --> 00:07:00,241 since the existence of bacteria and viruses 139 00:07:00,344 --> 00:07:02,758 had not yet been discovered, 140 00:07:02,827 --> 00:07:07,241 many believed that the invisible force that caused the plague 141 00:07:07,310 --> 00:07:09,586 was God himself. 142 00:07:09,655 --> 00:07:11,620 It was a belief that was widely accepted, 143 00:07:11,724 --> 00:07:14,310 because people would read in the Bible 144 00:07:14,413 --> 00:07:17,000 about how pestilence from the past 145 00:07:17,103 --> 00:07:20,482 had been created by the hand of God. 146 00:07:22,551 --> 00:07:26,862 Whenever humanity is infected 147 00:07:26,931 --> 00:07:31,758 by something greater and beyond human understanding, 148 00:07:31,862 --> 00:07:37,000 it has always been psychologically understood 149 00:07:37,068 --> 00:07:42,103 to be an expression of the wrath of God. 150 00:07:42,896 --> 00:07:45,241 We have in the Book of Exodus 151 00:07:45,310 --> 00:07:48,586 the famous ten plagues of Egypt. 152 00:07:48,655 --> 00:07:53,724 Moses had come back after seeing God on the mountain 153 00:07:53,827 --> 00:07:56,689 to free the Hebrews from slavery. 154 00:07:56,793 --> 00:08:01,241 He went before the pharaoh and asked to let his people go. 155 00:08:01,344 --> 00:08:03,758 Of course, the pharaoh said no. 156 00:08:03,827 --> 00:08:08,206 Therefore, the Hebrew God sent a number of plagues through Egypt. 157 00:08:11,827 --> 00:08:14,206 TZADOK: The Bible stories are clear. 158 00:08:14,275 --> 00:08:19,000 The order of the plagues are well-documented in the Bible. 159 00:08:19,068 --> 00:08:20,827 We know, of course, 160 00:08:20,931 --> 00:08:24,551 that there was the turning of the Nile into blood. 161 00:08:24,620 --> 00:08:26,379 There were the frogs, the lice, 162 00:08:26,482 --> 00:08:28,862 the pestilence and, of course, 163 00:08:28,965 --> 00:08:31,862 the great plagues of the Three Days of Darkness 164 00:08:31,965 --> 00:08:34,793 and, of course, the death of the firstborn. 165 00:08:36,827 --> 00:08:40,034 BIDMEAD: The biblical writer who is writing what happens 166 00:08:40,103 --> 00:08:41,448 and is inspired by God 167 00:08:41,517 --> 00:08:43,413 does say that the plague stopped 168 00:08:43,517 --> 00:08:46,103 after the Hebrews were finally free. 169 00:08:46,172 --> 00:08:50,068 So, perhaps there was some divine intervention from God. 170 00:08:50,172 --> 00:08:51,724 But we'll never know, 171 00:08:51,827 --> 00:08:54,068 because miracles are very difficult to prove. 172 00:08:54,172 --> 00:08:56,827 SHATNER: Was there a higher power involved 173 00:08:56,896 --> 00:09:00,689 that both started and ended the plagues of Egypt 174 00:09:00,793 --> 00:09:03,137 and the Plague of Justinian? 175 00:09:03,206 --> 00:09:07,310 Perhaps more clues as to what causes devastating plagues 176 00:09:07,413 --> 00:09:10,137 can be found by examining the disease responsible 177 00:09:10,206 --> 00:09:13,275 for claiming more lives than any other. 178 00:09:24,448 --> 00:09:27,965 Officials from the California oDepartment of Public Health 179 00:09:28,068 --> 00:09:31,862 alert residents that a woman has tested positive 180 00:09:31,965 --> 00:09:36,034 for a dangerous and quite unexpected disease. 181 00:09:37,206 --> 00:09:39,344 The bubonic plague, 182 00:09:39,413 --> 00:09:42,931 otherwise known as the black death. 183 00:09:43,931 --> 00:09:46,448 DASGUPTA: Does the bubonic plague still exist? 184 00:09:46,517 --> 00:09:49,034 The answer is... yes. 185 00:09:49,103 --> 00:09:50,482 And it's amazing 186 00:09:50,586 --> 00:09:53,344 how, many centuries later, 187 00:09:53,413 --> 00:09:56,068 you could say this with a calm voice. 188 00:09:56,137 --> 00:09:57,724 What is the difference? 189 00:09:57,827 --> 00:10:00,655 The answer is antibiotics. 190 00:10:00,758 --> 00:10:03,620 We know that if you have symptoms early 191 00:10:03,689 --> 00:10:07,172 that antibiotics can save your life. 192 00:10:07,241 --> 00:10:10,724 FISHER: While it's not as prevalent anymore, 193 00:10:10,827 --> 00:10:14,793 the plague is certainly still in circulation. 194 00:10:14,862 --> 00:10:16,551 In the United States, right, in more rural areas, 195 00:10:16,620 --> 00:10:18,517 where people come into contact with-with rodents 196 00:10:18,620 --> 00:10:20,103 that might be infected with it, 197 00:10:20,172 --> 00:10:23,137 it's still known to, like, crop up here and there. 198 00:10:25,206 --> 00:10:28,241 The worst case of the bubonic plague that there was 199 00:10:28,344 --> 00:10:30,103 was known as the black death, 200 00:10:30,206 --> 00:10:33,689 in the middle of the 1300s. 201 00:10:33,793 --> 00:10:36,275 And that wiped out 202 00:10:36,379 --> 00:10:42,000 60% of all of Europe's population. 203 00:10:46,448 --> 00:10:49,068 SHATNER: 12 trade ships arrive 204 00:10:49,172 --> 00:10:50,896 from the Black Sea 205 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:54,034 and drift into the port of Messina to unload freight. 206 00:10:54,103 --> 00:10:55,793 As dockworkers 207 00:10:55,862 --> 00:10:57,413 approach the vessels, 208 00:10:57,517 --> 00:11:00,068 they discover a disturbing scene. 209 00:11:00,137 --> 00:11:03,137 DASGUPTA: The port master goes on board 210 00:11:03,206 --> 00:11:06,655 to see the crew, and, to their surprise, 211 00:11:06,758 --> 00:11:09,241 it was almost like there were zombies on the ship. 212 00:11:09,344 --> 00:11:12,344 Gangrene fingers. 213 00:11:12,448 --> 00:11:14,448 Big boils. 214 00:11:14,517 --> 00:11:15,758 And if I saw 215 00:11:15,827 --> 00:11:17,931 a crew that had black fingers 216 00:11:18,034 --> 00:11:19,724 and boils, let's be honest: 217 00:11:19,827 --> 00:11:22,241 it sounds like a zombie apocalypse. 218 00:11:22,310 --> 00:11:25,241 The black death seemed to have been introduced 219 00:11:25,344 --> 00:11:25,965 via the Silk Road, 220 00:11:26,034 --> 00:11:28,655 which is a major trading route 221 00:11:28,724 --> 00:11:31,655 in the early medieval period from central Asia 222 00:11:31,724 --> 00:11:34,689 where the bubonic plague regularly pops up. 223 00:11:34,758 --> 00:11:36,862 Europe seems to have been largely unprepared 224 00:11:36,965 --> 00:11:38,448 for this devastating event. 225 00:11:38,551 --> 00:11:40,034 This is in the 1300s. 226 00:11:40,137 --> 00:11:41,724 It went for quite a few years, 227 00:11:41,827 --> 00:11:45,862 and whole villages and areas were wiped out. 228 00:11:45,965 --> 00:11:49,206 And like many plagues, uh, people wondered why. 229 00:11:49,275 --> 00:11:51,413 DASGUPTA: These cities would get the plague, 230 00:11:51,482 --> 00:11:52,931 and no one knew why. 231 00:11:53,034 --> 00:11:54,758 And then we always have the advantage 232 00:11:54,827 --> 00:11:58,103 of looking back on history and tracing. 233 00:11:58,172 --> 00:12:00,206 Historians could look back and say, "Wait a minute. 234 00:12:00,310 --> 00:12:02,206 "All the cities with ports 235 00:12:02,275 --> 00:12:04,862 "that do a lot of trading were infected. 236 00:12:04,931 --> 00:12:08,827 And what were going to all these ports? Ships." 237 00:12:09,586 --> 00:12:11,862 PHILLIPS: The black death 238 00:12:11,931 --> 00:12:14,172 was spread by fleas that lived on rats. 239 00:12:14,275 --> 00:12:17,724 And wherever these rats went, the fleas went, 240 00:12:17,793 --> 00:12:20,241 and they bit people. That's what made them ill. 241 00:12:20,310 --> 00:12:23,000 CHRISTINE COLBY: The flea would actually vomit the bacteria 242 00:12:23,068 --> 00:12:25,310 onto the person's skin while biting them. 243 00:12:26,241 --> 00:12:28,482 The disease spreads to the body's lymph nodes 244 00:12:28,586 --> 00:12:30,275 and causes buboes, 245 00:12:30,379 --> 00:12:31,620 which are infected sores 246 00:12:31,724 --> 00:12:33,793 which get to be about the size of an egg. 247 00:12:33,896 --> 00:12:37,275 And they eventually burst and expel bloody pus. 248 00:12:37,379 --> 00:12:39,137 The body goes through 249 00:12:39,241 --> 00:12:41,206 such horrific and gruesome transformations 250 00:12:41,310 --> 00:12:45,206 that from the time you contract the bubonic plague until death 251 00:12:45,275 --> 00:12:47,310 can sometimes only be a matter of days. 252 00:12:47,379 --> 00:12:50,172 SHATNER: During the Middle Ages, many believed 253 00:12:50,275 --> 00:12:53,724 that demons were responsible for the black death. 254 00:12:53,793 --> 00:12:55,862 - [coughs] - And people who were deemed 255 00:12:55,931 --> 00:12:58,758 to be wicked or unworthy 256 00:12:58,827 --> 00:13:00,137 were punished 257 00:13:00,241 --> 00:13:03,827 in hopes of driving the demons away. 258 00:13:05,931 --> 00:13:08,827 TZADOK: Many people believed 259 00:13:08,896 --> 00:13:12,586 that the source of this plague 260 00:13:12,689 --> 00:13:14,827 was caused by evil spirits, 261 00:13:14,896 --> 00:13:17,896 witchcraft and the like. 262 00:13:19,413 --> 00:13:20,965 The powers of the occult. 263 00:13:21,034 --> 00:13:24,137 And this led many people 264 00:13:24,206 --> 00:13:27,655 to seek out any type of expressions 265 00:13:27,758 --> 00:13:30,827 of the occult, witchcraft and the like... 266 00:13:32,482 --> 00:13:33,965 ...and to root it out 267 00:13:34,034 --> 00:13:37,448 in the attempt to placate God. 268 00:13:37,517 --> 00:13:39,172 [screams] 269 00:13:41,655 --> 00:13:43,793 SHATNER: Some were so convinced that the black death 270 00:13:43,896 --> 00:13:46,413 was a scourge brought by evil spirits, 271 00:13:46,482 --> 00:13:51,827 they were willing to scourge themselves. 272 00:13:53,172 --> 00:13:55,344 One common occurrence during the time of the black death 273 00:13:55,413 --> 00:13:59,482 was to see, uh, people that were called flagellants, which... 274 00:13:59,551 --> 00:14:01,586 They were under the belief that they were being punished 275 00:14:01,689 --> 00:14:04,862 by God for their sins, so they would publicly atone, 276 00:14:04,931 --> 00:14:07,275 and they would march through the town square, 277 00:14:07,344 --> 00:14:10,275 flogging themselves in the name of God. 278 00:14:10,344 --> 00:14:12,275 [groaning] 279 00:14:15,206 --> 00:14:17,724 THOMPSON: This flagellation movement really exploded. 280 00:14:17,793 --> 00:14:20,206 Whole towns flagellating themselves. 281 00:14:20,310 --> 00:14:22,551 Those that didn't were accused of being with the devil. 282 00:14:23,586 --> 00:14:27,931 PHILLIPS: Something else that came from the black death was 283 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,413 the practice of selling holy relics. 284 00:14:31,517 --> 00:14:35,758 When the black death was decimating Europe, 285 00:14:35,862 --> 00:14:38,344 the Church were saying, 286 00:14:38,448 --> 00:14:39,896 "Come to us, 287 00:14:39,965 --> 00:14:42,517 and we can cure you." 288 00:14:42,620 --> 00:14:44,310 The bones of a saint 289 00:14:44,379 --> 00:14:47,034 or something that had once belonged to a saint 290 00:14:47,137 --> 00:14:49,310 kept in these churches. They were called relics. 291 00:14:49,413 --> 00:14:51,482 And people believed that if they went there 292 00:14:51,551 --> 00:14:53,034 or close to such relics, 293 00:14:53,103 --> 00:14:55,103 prayed, that God may intervene 294 00:14:55,206 --> 00:14:57,172 and protect them from the plague. 295 00:14:57,241 --> 00:14:59,862 Now, they weren't curing anyone, 296 00:14:59,931 --> 00:15:03,344 but people were still flocking to the churches 297 00:15:03,448 --> 00:15:06,586 just on the hope that they could be cured. 298 00:15:07,586 --> 00:15:10,206 DASGUPTA: So, when we talk about the many lives 299 00:15:10,310 --> 00:15:12,758 that were lost during the black death, 300 00:15:12,862 --> 00:15:14,344 I think about a horror movie. 301 00:15:15,344 --> 00:15:17,655 SHATNER: Historians estimate that the black death 302 00:15:17,758 --> 00:15:21,482 wiped out anywhere from 50 to 200 million people, 303 00:15:21,551 --> 00:15:24,137 at least a third of Europe's population. 304 00:15:24,241 --> 00:15:26,275 So it's little wonder 305 00:15:26,379 --> 00:15:28,931 that most people thought that something so destructive 306 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,241 must have been some kind of punishment from God. 307 00:15:32,344 --> 00:15:35,689 But today, we have a much different understanding 308 00:15:35,758 --> 00:15:37,344 of this disease. 309 00:15:37,448 --> 00:15:39,310 GRONVALL: We call it the black death, 310 00:15:39,379 --> 00:15:42,413 but it's-it's a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. 311 00:15:42,482 --> 00:15:46,551 But it's not as dangerous as it was then. 312 00:15:46,620 --> 00:15:49,068 Now we have antibiotics. 313 00:15:49,137 --> 00:15:50,931 We can detect it. 314 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,965 You know, you can treat it. 315 00:15:54,827 --> 00:15:56,482 In any case, 316 00:15:56,551 --> 00:16:00,000 Yersinia pestis is still around today, 317 00:16:00,103 --> 00:16:02,724 which begs the question, 318 00:16:02,827 --> 00:16:04,344 is it possible 319 00:16:04,413 --> 00:16:06,896 to actually kill off a fatal disease 320 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:08,241 once and for all? 321 00:16:08,344 --> 00:16:09,689 Perhaps the answer can be found 322 00:16:09,793 --> 00:16:11,931 by examining a deadly plague 323 00:16:12,034 --> 00:16:13,689 that, believe it or not, 324 00:16:13,793 --> 00:16:16,551 has been infecting humankind 325 00:16:16,655 --> 00:16:20,103 for more than 10,000 years. 326 00:16:26,827 --> 00:16:28,689 SHATNER: The Valley of Mexico. 327 00:16:33,448 --> 00:16:37,241 Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés 328 00:16:37,344 --> 00:16:40,862 arrive at Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec Empire, 329 00:16:40,965 --> 00:16:43,310 bearing dreams of conquest 330 00:16:43,379 --> 00:16:46,206 and an insatiable desire for gold. 331 00:16:46,275 --> 00:16:51,172 But they also brought with them a lethal, infectious disease. 332 00:16:51,275 --> 00:16:53,344 THOMPSON: Smallpox is introduced 333 00:16:53,413 --> 00:16:56,896 into the Americas very dramatically 334 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:57,931 at a specific point in time 335 00:16:58,034 --> 00:17:00,482 and alongside the European invasion. 336 00:17:00,551 --> 00:17:04,586 This is a tremendous sort of clash of civilizations, 337 00:17:04,689 --> 00:17:07,517 the likes of which the world had never seen before 338 00:17:07,586 --> 00:17:08,793 and will never see again. 339 00:17:08,862 --> 00:17:12,758 The single most deciding factor 340 00:17:12,862 --> 00:17:17,103 as to why Native American civilizations fell so rapidly 341 00:17:17,206 --> 00:17:18,620 was the introduction of smallpox. 342 00:17:21,931 --> 00:17:24,310 FISHER: So, smallpox is a virus. 343 00:17:24,413 --> 00:17:28,172 It causes these sort of irregularly spaced, 344 00:17:28,241 --> 00:17:30,827 pustule-y skin lesions 345 00:17:30,931 --> 00:17:32,379 and had a devastating effect 346 00:17:32,448 --> 00:17:35,758 on-on Native Americans, um, in the New World. 347 00:17:36,758 --> 00:17:40,931 GRONVALL: In Europe, most people had experienced smallpox. 348 00:17:41,034 --> 00:17:42,689 They had the scars, 349 00:17:42,793 --> 00:17:44,137 or they had it as children. 350 00:17:44,206 --> 00:17:47,413 But there was no immunity in the New World. 351 00:17:47,517 --> 00:17:49,793 There was no immunity among kids. 352 00:17:49,862 --> 00:17:51,862 There was no immunity among adults. 353 00:17:51,965 --> 00:17:54,931 And so, when this new disease came, 354 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,689 everybody was vulnerable. 355 00:17:57,793 --> 00:18:00,137 And so it spread like wildfire. 356 00:18:01,448 --> 00:18:04,137 SHATNER: Although the exact numbers will never be known, 357 00:18:04,241 --> 00:18:06,206 many experts estimate 358 00:18:06,310 --> 00:18:09,586 that a staggering 95% of the indigenous population 359 00:18:09,689 --> 00:18:12,896 would eventually die from smallpox. 360 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,206 But what's even more chilling 361 00:18:15,310 --> 00:18:17,862 is the fact that smallpox ran rampant 362 00:18:17,931 --> 00:18:20,172 for thousands of years. 363 00:18:20,275 --> 00:18:23,827 GRONVALL: I am astounded 364 00:18:23,896 --> 00:18:27,068 by how far back smallpox goes. 365 00:18:27,172 --> 00:18:29,896 For most of human recorded history, 366 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,689 we believe it's the same strain 367 00:18:31,758 --> 00:18:34,103 that was infecting one person after another, 368 00:18:34,172 --> 00:18:36,517 this human chain of infection. 369 00:18:36,620 --> 00:18:42,931 The Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V had scarring on his face 370 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,620 that's consistent with smallpox. 371 00:18:48,758 --> 00:18:51,344 SHATNER: It is estimated that smallpox has killed 372 00:18:51,448 --> 00:18:54,034 between 300 and 500 million people 373 00:18:54,103 --> 00:18:57,758 in its more than 10,000-year existence. 374 00:18:57,827 --> 00:19:01,793 Which begs the question: how did we finally beat it? 375 00:19:04,655 --> 00:19:07,413 Well, it just so happens that the cure for smallpox 376 00:19:07,482 --> 00:19:12,482 was discovered in a small English village in the 1790s. 377 00:19:12,586 --> 00:19:16,413 GRONVALL: In the late 1700s, doctors were noticing 378 00:19:16,482 --> 00:19:20,551 that milkmaids did not seem to be affected by smallpox, 379 00:19:20,620 --> 00:19:25,379 and their complexions remained unscarred. 380 00:19:25,448 --> 00:19:29,448 And people were starting to make that connection 381 00:19:29,517 --> 00:19:33,000 that there might be immunity from catching 382 00:19:33,103 --> 00:19:37,172 a different kind of pox virus, cow pox. 383 00:19:37,275 --> 00:19:41,068 So milkmaids were exposed to the cow pox virus, 384 00:19:41,172 --> 00:19:43,241 probably got infected, 385 00:19:43,344 --> 00:19:46,206 and were then immune to smallpox. 386 00:19:48,068 --> 00:19:49,758 Edward Jenner was an English physician, 387 00:19:49,827 --> 00:19:53,517 and decided to test this observation, 388 00:19:53,586 --> 00:19:56,827 and took a piece of an ulcer from a cow 389 00:19:56,931 --> 00:19:59,000 that was infected by cow pox, 390 00:19:59,103 --> 00:20:02,758 and gave it to an eight-year-old boy. 391 00:20:02,827 --> 00:20:05,551 And then, a little bit later, 392 00:20:05,620 --> 00:20:09,689 gave this little boy a dose of smallpox. 393 00:20:09,758 --> 00:20:14,241 Fortunately, the eight-year-old boy did not develop smallpox 394 00:20:14,344 --> 00:20:17,413 and was actually protected. 395 00:20:17,517 --> 00:20:20,034 Because it wasn't, like, a direct viral intake, 396 00:20:20,137 --> 00:20:23,965 you would get, like, a slightly lesser version of the disease. 397 00:20:24,068 --> 00:20:26,103 But because you had been exposed to it, 398 00:20:26,172 --> 00:20:28,551 you would, of course, then have immunity. 399 00:20:28,655 --> 00:20:30,517 So it was probably the first instance 400 00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:32,896 of a crude version of vaccination. 401 00:20:34,448 --> 00:20:37,551 SHATNER: As it turns out, Edward Jenner's revolutionary experiment 402 00:20:37,620 --> 00:20:40,620 is remembered today for its inspiration, 403 00:20:40,724 --> 00:20:43,413 its sheer audacity 404 00:20:43,517 --> 00:20:45,965 and because it provided a new defense 405 00:20:46,068 --> 00:20:47,551 against infectious disease, 406 00:20:47,655 --> 00:20:52,827 which we now refer to as "the vaccine." 407 00:20:52,896 --> 00:20:56,379 The word "vaccine" comes from the virus name "vaccinia," 408 00:20:56,448 --> 00:21:01,344 which was the virus that was the cow pox-derived virus 409 00:21:01,448 --> 00:21:04,793 that left people immune to smallpox. 410 00:21:04,862 --> 00:21:08,206 Vaccines prevent disease, 411 00:21:08,275 --> 00:21:11,241 and some vaccines can last for decades, 412 00:21:11,344 --> 00:21:15,551 and some vaccines need to be given every year. 413 00:21:15,655 --> 00:21:19,551 For smallpox, people had to get vaccinated every ten years. 414 00:21:20,862 --> 00:21:24,206 SHATNER: Vaccines are humanity's single greatest weapon 415 00:21:24,310 --> 00:21:26,275 against plagues. 416 00:21:26,344 --> 00:21:28,931 Rooted in science and not superstition, 417 00:21:29,034 --> 00:21:32,931 they provide a powerful way to fight outbreaks. 418 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,413 GRONVALL: The last naturally occurring case of smallpox 419 00:21:35,482 --> 00:21:39,551 was identified in 1979, and in 1980, 420 00:21:39,620 --> 00:21:41,379 the World Health Organization declared 421 00:21:41,448 --> 00:21:43,517 that smallpox was eradicated. 422 00:21:43,620 --> 00:21:46,931 So no longer spreading from person to person. 423 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:51,310 Eradicating smallpox was the biggest public health victory 424 00:21:51,413 --> 00:21:54,344 in the history of the human race. 425 00:21:55,517 --> 00:21:58,517 SHATNER: The eradication of smallpox is the most famous use 426 00:21:58,586 --> 00:22:01,310 of a highly-effective vaccine, 427 00:22:01,413 --> 00:22:05,620 but there are some diseases that are harder to cure. 428 00:22:05,724 --> 00:22:07,793 MICHIO KAKU: There are viruses 429 00:22:07,896 --> 00:22:10,172 for which we have no vaccines at all, 430 00:22:10,241 --> 00:22:12,206 because they mutate too rapidly. 431 00:22:12,275 --> 00:22:15,517 And so, because viruses mutate, 432 00:22:15,586 --> 00:22:19,344 there's a certain limitation to what you can do with vaccines. 433 00:22:21,241 --> 00:22:23,413 DASGUPTA: The minute you get too confident, 434 00:22:23,517 --> 00:22:26,137 and you think that we defeated Mother Nature, 435 00:22:26,206 --> 00:22:29,241 somehow, it always finds a way to come back. 436 00:22:29,310 --> 00:22:31,448 SHATNER: Vaccines are one of mankind's 437 00:22:31,517 --> 00:22:33,620 greatest scientific triumphs. 438 00:22:33,724 --> 00:22:36,068 But not all medical recoveries 439 00:22:36,137 --> 00:22:38,103 can be easily explained by science. 440 00:22:38,206 --> 00:22:41,034 Sometimes, the body's reaction 441 00:22:41,103 --> 00:22:44,689 to an infection is so bizarre and so inexplicable 442 00:22:44,793 --> 00:22:48,172 that it can only be described as... 443 00:22:48,275 --> 00:22:50,344 miraculous. 444 00:22:54,137 --> 00:22:56,655 SHATNER: July 4, 1863. 445 00:22:56,758 --> 00:22:59,137 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 446 00:22:59,241 --> 00:23:00,965 On the morning after the bloodiest battle 447 00:23:01,034 --> 00:23:02,448 of the Civil War, 448 00:23:02,517 --> 00:23:05,551 thousands of dead soldiers lay strewn 449 00:23:05,620 --> 00:23:07,862 across the blood-soaked farmland. 450 00:23:07,931 --> 00:23:12,517 But while the brutality of the Civil War is well-documented, 451 00:23:12,586 --> 00:23:15,275 approximately two-thirds of the more 452 00:23:15,344 --> 00:23:17,655 than 600,000 deaths in the war 453 00:23:17,724 --> 00:23:21,724 weren't caused by injuries sustained on the battlefield, 454 00:23:21,827 --> 00:23:24,758 but rather... by disease. 455 00:23:27,448 --> 00:23:29,448 FISHER: The Civil War represents 456 00:23:29,551 --> 00:23:34,068 the last major conflict that, um, that humans experienced 457 00:23:34,137 --> 00:23:36,931 um, before the, sort of, the inception 458 00:23:37,034 --> 00:23:38,482 or the origins of germ theory. 459 00:23:38,586 --> 00:23:41,310 You can imagine the conditions 460 00:23:41,379 --> 00:23:44,310 that soldiers live in, crowded together, 461 00:23:44,379 --> 00:23:46,275 substandard sanitation. 462 00:23:46,344 --> 00:23:48,413 In some cases, 463 00:23:48,517 --> 00:23:51,068 open wounds that aren't being treated correctly. 464 00:23:51,172 --> 00:23:53,068 WYNN: It's really gross. 465 00:23:53,172 --> 00:23:54,793 Everything smells terrible. 466 00:23:54,896 --> 00:23:57,517 Uh, these doctors aren't washing their aprons. 467 00:23:57,586 --> 00:24:01,482 They can't explain where they're getting these diseases from, 468 00:24:01,551 --> 00:24:03,448 how they may be spreading it. 469 00:24:03,517 --> 00:24:06,689 SHATNER: As uncontrollable infections ravaged 470 00:24:06,793 --> 00:24:09,758 both Union and Confederate encampments, 471 00:24:09,862 --> 00:24:13,241 soldiers and their doctors debated the cause 472 00:24:13,344 --> 00:24:14,931 of their afflictions. 473 00:24:15,034 --> 00:24:21,000 Many came to believe that the air itself was poisoned. 474 00:24:21,103 --> 00:24:22,896 DASGUPTA: When we talk about 475 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,965 some of the deadliest viruses that we know, 476 00:24:26,034 --> 00:24:30,896 some of them get transmitted by respiratory droplets, the air. 477 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,931 When you cough, when you sneeze, just by talking. 478 00:24:36,034 --> 00:24:40,068 So maybe they weren't too off by saying the air is bad. 479 00:24:41,206 --> 00:24:43,655 SHATNER: In the mid-nineteenth century, 480 00:24:43,724 --> 00:24:45,758 little was known about disease control 481 00:24:45,827 --> 00:24:49,206 or preventing the spread of germs. 482 00:24:49,275 --> 00:24:52,517 But as the scope of the war widened 483 00:24:52,586 --> 00:24:55,724 and the ferocity of infectious outbreaks resulted 484 00:24:55,827 --> 00:24:58,172 in even more horrific causalities, 485 00:24:58,275 --> 00:25:02,965 doctors were forced to expand their knowledge of diseases 486 00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:05,000 and how to contain them. 487 00:25:05,103 --> 00:25:06,896 WYNN: They realize that 488 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,068 maybe a barn isn't the best place to be doing 489 00:25:10,172 --> 00:25:13,241 amputations and open surgeries. 490 00:25:13,310 --> 00:25:15,724 So, as the war goes on, 491 00:25:15,793 --> 00:25:17,482 there's beginning to be an understanding 492 00:25:17,586 --> 00:25:19,172 of what medicine should be. 493 00:25:19,275 --> 00:25:20,793 Things like triage, 494 00:25:20,862 --> 00:25:24,517 things like an ambulance system, hospitals-- 495 00:25:24,620 --> 00:25:26,379 these are all established during the Civil War 496 00:25:26,448 --> 00:25:28,137 in the United States for the first time. 497 00:25:28,206 --> 00:25:31,137 SHATNER: In many ways, the Civil War marked the beginning 498 00:25:31,206 --> 00:25:32,896 of medical science as we know it 499 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,241 and the end of mankind's 500 00:25:35,344 --> 00:25:38,482 superstitious attitude towards disease. 501 00:25:38,586 --> 00:25:41,172 But there is one event on the battlefield 502 00:25:41,241 --> 00:25:44,793 that medical historians still struggle to explain to this day, 503 00:25:44,862 --> 00:25:48,103 because it simply defies understanding. 504 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,379 April 7, 1862, Hardin County, Tennessee. 505 00:25:56,482 --> 00:25:59,862 Union and Confederate forces square off 506 00:25:59,931 --> 00:26:01,896 in one of the bloodiest confrontations 507 00:26:01,965 --> 00:26:05,034 of the Civil War-- The Battle of Shiloh. 508 00:26:06,965 --> 00:26:09,931 After two days of vicious fighting... 509 00:26:10,034 --> 00:26:12,344 [yelling] 510 00:26:12,413 --> 00:26:17,517 ...more than 20,000 men lie dead or dying. 511 00:26:18,620 --> 00:26:21,137 WYNN: So, Ulysses S. Grant is the commander 512 00:26:21,206 --> 00:26:22,137 of the Union army at this battle. 513 00:26:22,241 --> 00:26:24,620 He went out, and looked over the battlefield, 514 00:26:24,689 --> 00:26:28,172 and he could see that there were so many soldiers who had been 515 00:26:28,275 --> 00:26:31,275 wounded and killed that he could have walked across one side 516 00:26:31,379 --> 00:26:32,724 of the battlefield to the other 517 00:26:32,793 --> 00:26:34,241 without ever touching the ground, 518 00:26:34,344 --> 00:26:37,137 walking from body to body to body. 519 00:26:37,241 --> 00:26:40,896 SHATNER: As night falls over the battlefield, 520 00:26:40,965 --> 00:26:44,068 many injured soldiers lie helpless, 521 00:26:44,172 --> 00:26:47,551 hoping to be rescued before their wounds become infected. 522 00:26:47,620 --> 00:26:51,482 What happens next is one of the enduring mysteries 523 00:26:51,551 --> 00:26:53,482 of the Civil War. 524 00:26:53,586 --> 00:26:56,655 WYNN: Soldiers are out between the lines, 525 00:26:56,724 --> 00:26:58,620 wounded during the course of the battle. 526 00:26:58,724 --> 00:27:00,931 It's cold at night. They're out there shivering. 527 00:27:01,034 --> 00:27:05,206 And they happen to look down at their shattered arm or leg, 528 00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:10,551 and they notice this soft, faint, bluish-greenish glow 529 00:27:10,620 --> 00:27:13,000 seeming to come off their wounds in the darkness. 530 00:27:13,103 --> 00:27:16,551 There was a connection that was being made amongst the soldiers 531 00:27:16,620 --> 00:27:20,482 that those who experienced this glowing wound effect 532 00:27:20,586 --> 00:27:23,103 seemed to have better outcomes 533 00:27:23,206 --> 00:27:25,689 when they went back to the field hospital, and it seemed 534 00:27:25,793 --> 00:27:29,068 as though their wounds may not have been as infected. 535 00:27:29,172 --> 00:27:33,689 BIDMEAD: They termed this bluish-green glow 536 00:27:33,793 --> 00:27:36,379 Angel's Glow. Why? 537 00:27:36,448 --> 00:27:39,482 Because, to them, it looked like a halo. 538 00:27:39,586 --> 00:27:42,034 Mystical light surrounding them. 539 00:27:42,137 --> 00:27:44,241 So, it was a way of them thinking that God 540 00:27:44,344 --> 00:27:47,448 or the angels were protecting these particular soldiers. 541 00:27:47,517 --> 00:27:50,655 SHATNER: Was the so-called Angel's Glow 542 00:27:50,724 --> 00:27:52,965 a type of divine intervention 543 00:27:53,034 --> 00:27:57,034 that somehow protected certain soldiers from deadly infections? 544 00:27:57,137 --> 00:28:01,413 Perhaps. But recently, a new theory has surfaced-- 545 00:28:01,482 --> 00:28:03,724 one that suggests this phenomenon 546 00:28:03,827 --> 00:28:09,034 may have had a more conventional explanation. 547 00:28:09,103 --> 00:28:12,137 It wasn't until many years, like 150 years later, 548 00:28:12,241 --> 00:28:16,551 that a 17-year-old high school student visited Shiloh, 549 00:28:16,620 --> 00:28:18,827 and he decided for his science project 550 00:28:18,931 --> 00:28:21,862 to research bacterium that glows. 551 00:28:21,931 --> 00:28:25,655 And they were able to find out that there was a bacteria 552 00:28:25,724 --> 00:28:28,620 that would emit some sort of parasitic worm. 553 00:28:28,724 --> 00:28:31,551 It would get into the veins, and then it would glow. 554 00:28:31,620 --> 00:28:34,758 SHATNER: Could the Angel's Glow 555 00:28:34,862 --> 00:28:37,413 really have been a sign of a type of bacteria, 556 00:28:37,517 --> 00:28:39,931 rather than guardian angels? 557 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,724 And if so, could this bacteria have actually been responsible 558 00:28:43,793 --> 00:28:47,896 for saving the lives of the wounded soldiers? 559 00:28:47,965 --> 00:28:50,103 Presumably, what happened with those soldiers 560 00:28:50,206 --> 00:28:51,793 with the Angel's Glow 561 00:28:51,896 --> 00:28:55,068 is that those bacteria were actually infecting their wounds. 562 00:28:55,172 --> 00:28:58,793 And because those bacteria exude a lot of antibacterial 563 00:28:58,896 --> 00:29:02,206 and antimicrobial compounds, they actually reduce the level 564 00:29:02,310 --> 00:29:03,724 of infection in the soldiers 565 00:29:03,793 --> 00:29:06,241 that they, that they, uh, colonized. 566 00:29:07,103 --> 00:29:08,172 SHATNER: The bacteria theory 567 00:29:08,275 --> 00:29:11,551 is the best scientific explanation we have 568 00:29:11,620 --> 00:29:14,862 for what caused the Angel's Glow. 569 00:29:14,931 --> 00:29:17,034 If this incredible theory is true, 570 00:29:17,137 --> 00:29:20,034 then it seems that some forms of bacteria 571 00:29:20,137 --> 00:29:23,793 can actually help us in the fight against disease. 572 00:29:23,896 --> 00:29:26,379 But the soldiers whose lives were saved 573 00:29:26,482 --> 00:29:30,655 at the Battle of Shiloh believed that what healed them 574 00:29:30,758 --> 00:29:34,000 could only have been sent from heaven. 575 00:29:34,103 --> 00:29:35,689 WYNN: We can't know what those soldiers experienced 576 00:29:35,793 --> 00:29:39,034 out there on the battlefield between the lines. 577 00:29:39,103 --> 00:29:41,689 They're in the dark, they're suffering from shock. 578 00:29:41,793 --> 00:29:43,620 Who's to say that they didn't experience that 579 00:29:43,724 --> 00:29:46,310 or that they did experience that? 580 00:29:47,896 --> 00:29:51,517 Guardian angels, reaching down to comfort 581 00:29:51,620 --> 00:29:56,034 and even cure dying soldiers during the American Civil War? 582 00:29:56,137 --> 00:29:59,413 To some it sounds like pure fantasy. 583 00:29:59,482 --> 00:30:01,896 But to others, especially those 584 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,206 who've had their own close calls with death, 585 00:30:05,310 --> 00:30:09,896 there's no doubt that such a notion is entirely plausible. 586 00:30:09,965 --> 00:30:12,620 Let's face it: when dealing with deadly diseases, 587 00:30:12,689 --> 00:30:14,965 it's hard to be certain of pretty much anything. 588 00:30:15,034 --> 00:30:18,862 Not only do we often know very little 589 00:30:18,965 --> 00:30:21,000 about how to cure an illness, 590 00:30:21,068 --> 00:30:24,482 we know even less about where an illness comes from. 591 00:30:24,586 --> 00:30:26,827 For instance, what if I told you 592 00:30:26,931 --> 00:30:30,517 that what we commonly refer to as the Spanish flu 593 00:30:30,586 --> 00:30:35,413 didn't come from Spain at all, but from a remote army base... 594 00:30:37,206 --> 00:30:39,103 ...in Kansas? 595 00:30:50,241 --> 00:30:52,758 SHATNER: At the height of World War I, 596 00:30:52,862 --> 00:30:56,551 more than 50 years after the end of the American Civil War, 597 00:30:56,620 --> 00:31:00,448 soldiers from more than 30 nations are engaged 598 00:31:00,551 --> 00:31:03,103 in trench warfare all over Europe... 599 00:31:04,655 --> 00:31:08,000 ...and a new, unexpected enemy emerges... 600 00:31:08,103 --> 00:31:11,137 - [coughing] - ...the Spanish flu. 601 00:31:12,275 --> 00:31:13,448 WYNN: Europe is awash 602 00:31:13,517 --> 00:31:16,206 in the influenza virus. 603 00:31:16,275 --> 00:31:20,206 They had a massive outbreak of influenza, 604 00:31:20,310 --> 00:31:23,103 and these soldiers serving at the front lines 605 00:31:23,172 --> 00:31:26,206 are directly impacted on both sides of the conflict. 606 00:31:26,310 --> 00:31:29,827 - [coughing] - The symptoms were pretty horrific, 607 00:31:29,931 --> 00:31:31,586 and so these soldiers were not capable of performing 608 00:31:31,655 --> 00:31:34,724 their duties, and many of them actually die of the disease. 609 00:31:36,172 --> 00:31:39,551 GRONVALL: We're used to the flu, but the 1918 flu 610 00:31:39,620 --> 00:31:43,172 had more severe symptoms and lingering effects. 611 00:31:44,586 --> 00:31:46,689 When the flu first started spreading, 612 00:31:46,758 --> 00:31:49,965 their skin turned blue. 613 00:31:50,034 --> 00:31:53,000 They just had no oxygen in their blood. 614 00:31:53,103 --> 00:31:56,724 It was not uncommon for people to lose all their hair. 615 00:31:56,827 --> 00:32:01,034 It was not uncommon to have neurological side effects. 616 00:32:02,206 --> 00:32:04,724 WYNN: The 1918 influenza strain 617 00:32:04,793 --> 00:32:08,103 caused an incredibly high fever, it caused coughing. 618 00:32:08,172 --> 00:32:11,965 In many cases, patients' lungs would fill with fluid 619 00:32:12,034 --> 00:32:13,965 as this virus is taking over their body. 620 00:32:14,034 --> 00:32:17,068 That would cause an immune system overreaction 621 00:32:17,172 --> 00:32:19,068 and they would essentially drown. 622 00:32:20,689 --> 00:32:21,896 SHATNER: Medics on the front lines, 623 00:32:21,965 --> 00:32:23,862 prepared for the ravages of war, 624 00:32:23,965 --> 00:32:27,965 look on in horror as young, healthy soldiers 625 00:32:28,034 --> 00:32:29,896 begin to die within days, 626 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,586 or even hours of showing symptoms. 627 00:32:33,689 --> 00:32:38,586 The Spanish flu was caused by, um, an H1N1 influenza virus. 628 00:32:38,655 --> 00:32:41,724 And the particular strain of the H1N1 virus 629 00:32:41,827 --> 00:32:44,310 was a little unusual amongst influenza viruses 630 00:32:44,413 --> 00:32:47,724 in that it was much more contagious, it was much easier 631 00:32:47,827 --> 00:32:49,793 to expel and spread between people. 632 00:32:49,896 --> 00:32:52,896 In 1918, we still really were 633 00:32:52,965 --> 00:32:55,241 sort of incapable of stopping its spread. 634 00:32:55,344 --> 00:32:58,034 This was right at the end of World War I, 635 00:32:58,103 --> 00:33:01,413 and so soldiers were, of course, kept in close quarters 636 00:33:01,482 --> 00:33:02,586 and barracks together. 637 00:33:02,689 --> 00:33:06,275 And then, also, people were sort of moving around the world 638 00:33:06,379 --> 00:33:07,896 more than they probably normally would have been 639 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,448 sort of traveling. 640 00:33:09,517 --> 00:33:12,379 Um, and so those were some of the factors 641 00:33:12,482 --> 00:33:14,586 that caused it to spread really rapidly. 642 00:33:14,689 --> 00:33:18,241 SHATNER: Since finding a cure for a mysterious virus 643 00:33:18,344 --> 00:33:21,206 in the midst of a world war is a difficult, 644 00:33:21,310 --> 00:33:23,344 if not impossible undertaking, 645 00:33:23,413 --> 00:33:27,206 both the Central Powers and the Allied Powers 646 00:33:27,310 --> 00:33:29,137 decided the best course of action 647 00:33:29,241 --> 00:33:33,793 was to downplay the threat posed by the disease. 648 00:33:33,862 --> 00:33:37,241 In fact, the 1918 flu is called the Spanish flu 649 00:33:37,310 --> 00:33:40,724 not because it came from Spain, but because, 650 00:33:40,793 --> 00:33:44,068 initially, Spain was the only country willing 651 00:33:44,172 --> 00:33:46,206 to acknowledge its existence. 652 00:33:49,379 --> 00:33:51,482 GRONVALL: The reason we think of it as the Spanish flu 653 00:33:51,551 --> 00:33:54,551 is because Spain had a free press at that time, 654 00:33:54,620 --> 00:33:57,827 and the rest of the world did not. 655 00:33:57,931 --> 00:34:00,758 Spain was not involved in World War I, 656 00:34:00,827 --> 00:34:04,241 and their king ended up getting the 1918 flu. 657 00:34:04,310 --> 00:34:06,103 So it was a matter of national interest, 658 00:34:06,172 --> 00:34:09,931 and most Americans learned of the flu 659 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,103 from the Spanish papers. 660 00:34:14,655 --> 00:34:18,206 SHATNER: The so-called Spanish flu is estimated to have infected 661 00:34:18,310 --> 00:34:21,586 one third of the world's population at the time, 662 00:34:21,689 --> 00:34:23,551 roughly 500 million people. 663 00:34:23,620 --> 00:34:27,275 But while the press created a lasting nickname 664 00:34:27,379 --> 00:34:28,517 for the 1918 flu, 665 00:34:28,586 --> 00:34:33,068 some researchers have suggested that it actually originated 666 00:34:33,137 --> 00:34:36,482 in the heartland of the United States. 667 00:34:40,586 --> 00:34:42,827 March 4, 1918. 668 00:34:42,896 --> 00:34:44,827 Fort Riley, Kansas. 669 00:34:44,931 --> 00:34:50,379 Before the so-called Spanish flu outbreak was reported in Europe, 670 00:34:50,448 --> 00:34:54,620 a private at this remote Army base in the United States 671 00:34:54,724 --> 00:34:58,724 starts to feel ill. 672 00:34:58,827 --> 00:35:02,275 WYNN: In March of 1918, an Army private named Albert Gitchell-- 673 00:35:02,379 --> 00:35:04,482 he's a cook with the army-- 674 00:35:04,586 --> 00:35:06,620 he reports symptoms, so he goes to the hospital. 675 00:35:06,689 --> 00:35:09,034 Uh, he's sick, he's-he's not feeling well. 676 00:35:09,137 --> 00:35:10,862 He's got a bit of a cough, bit of a fever. 677 00:35:10,931 --> 00:35:13,551 In the end, he ultimately goes in to work, 678 00:35:13,620 --> 00:35:17,068 feeding all of these soldiers in this army camp. 679 00:35:17,172 --> 00:35:21,068 In the weeks that follow, the members of this camp 680 00:35:21,137 --> 00:35:24,655 come down with a pretty nasty flu strain. 681 00:35:24,758 --> 00:35:28,620 And there are no other outbreaks similar to this at this point, 682 00:35:28,689 --> 00:35:32,448 which suggests that this outbreak is starting 683 00:35:32,517 --> 00:35:35,034 at that camp, and potentially with that soldier. 684 00:35:36,379 --> 00:35:40,827 COLBY: There were 1,127 cases just at Fort Riley itself, 685 00:35:40,931 --> 00:35:42,482 and 46 people died. 686 00:35:42,586 --> 00:35:44,344 So all these soldiers at Fort Riley are thinking 687 00:35:44,448 --> 00:35:47,655 they just had a bad cold, or maybe even a mild flu. 688 00:35:47,724 --> 00:35:50,310 They were eventually all put on trains, 689 00:35:50,413 --> 00:35:51,827 which spread all over the country 690 00:35:51,896 --> 00:35:52,965 going to various ports. 691 00:35:53,034 --> 00:35:54,551 And then they were all shipped off to Europe 692 00:35:54,655 --> 00:35:56,034 to fight in the war. 693 00:35:56,103 --> 00:36:00,241 SHATNER: Many scientist now believe that Army Private Albert Gitchell 694 00:36:00,310 --> 00:36:04,379 was the first man to contract the 1918 flu. 695 00:36:04,482 --> 00:36:06,896 Gitchell spread it to his fellow servicemen 696 00:36:06,965 --> 00:36:08,586 when he served them food. 697 00:36:08,655 --> 00:36:10,655 And soldiers then were sent overseas 698 00:36:10,724 --> 00:36:13,965 to fight in the war, and they unwittingly 699 00:36:14,068 --> 00:36:15,896 spread the disease around the globe. 700 00:36:15,965 --> 00:36:19,896 But of course that explanation is only a theory. 701 00:36:19,965 --> 00:36:24,241 The situation fits the epidemiology, 702 00:36:24,310 --> 00:36:26,655 the number of people who got sick afterwards. 703 00:36:26,758 --> 00:36:29,965 But whether we will ever know for sure 704 00:36:30,034 --> 00:36:32,241 who patient zero was, 705 00:36:32,344 --> 00:36:35,000 or whether it absolutely came from Kansas, 706 00:36:35,068 --> 00:36:37,275 it's hard to be absolutely sure. 707 00:36:37,379 --> 00:36:39,862 It's really hard to learn where any virus starts, 708 00:36:39,965 --> 00:36:43,758 Where any pandemic starts, because you're not recording 709 00:36:43,862 --> 00:36:45,655 everywhere all the time, 710 00:36:45,758 --> 00:36:47,310 and having the scientific tools in place 711 00:36:47,413 --> 00:36:48,862 to be able to detect it. 712 00:36:51,172 --> 00:36:53,068 WYNN: The great mystery of any of these pandemics 713 00:36:53,137 --> 00:36:56,103 or public health crises is where did it start? 714 00:36:56,206 --> 00:36:57,517 And, ultimately, whydid it start? 715 00:36:57,586 --> 00:37:00,862 And what were the circumstances that allowed that to happen? 716 00:37:00,931 --> 00:37:03,827 It's the story of how we interact with one another, 717 00:37:03,896 --> 00:37:06,724 and how we spread diseases amongst each other. 718 00:37:06,793 --> 00:37:09,896 If you track that and you find that out, 719 00:37:09,965 --> 00:37:13,275 we could prevent it happening again in the future. 720 00:37:16,206 --> 00:37:19,758 SHATNER: The Spanish flu outbreak lasted for three long years 721 00:37:19,827 --> 00:37:23,620 and killed an estimated 50 million people 722 00:37:23,724 --> 00:37:28,068 before society finally developed enough collective immunity 723 00:37:28,172 --> 00:37:30,862 for the virus to die out. 724 00:37:30,931 --> 00:37:34,758 History shows us that no matter how lethal a disease may be, 725 00:37:34,862 --> 00:37:38,310 humankind has always found a way to endure it, 726 00:37:38,413 --> 00:37:41,068 whether by employing medical breakthroughs 727 00:37:41,172 --> 00:37:43,413 or sheer patience. 728 00:37:43,482 --> 00:37:46,827 But what kind of illnesses will we have to face in the future? 729 00:37:46,931 --> 00:37:48,896 Could they be different than 730 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:50,793 what we've experienced in the past? 731 00:37:50,862 --> 00:37:55,448 And might they come to our planet from another world? 732 00:38:03,448 --> 00:38:05,448 SHATNER: British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle 733 00:38:05,517 --> 00:38:09,413 publishes a book titled Astronomical Origins of Life: 734 00:38:09,517 --> 00:38:12,689 Steps Towards Panspermia. 735 00:38:12,758 --> 00:38:15,413 In it, Hoyle investigates the controversial theory 736 00:38:15,517 --> 00:38:18,103 of panspermia, which suggests that 737 00:38:18,172 --> 00:38:21,896 life on Earth did not originate here 738 00:38:21,965 --> 00:38:24,413 but rather in space, 739 00:38:24,517 --> 00:38:27,103 and that asteroids carried the microbial 740 00:38:27,172 --> 00:38:29,793 building blocks of DNA to our planet. 741 00:38:33,172 --> 00:38:35,000 KAKU: You cannot dismiss the possibility 742 00:38:35,068 --> 00:38:37,620 that maybe life came from outer space. 743 00:38:37,689 --> 00:38:41,551 That we were seeded. Seeded by asteroids or comets 744 00:38:41,620 --> 00:38:43,965 that then put their organic materials 745 00:38:44,068 --> 00:38:46,448 onto the planet Earth. 746 00:38:46,517 --> 00:38:49,241 And so there's a new theory in astronomy that says that 747 00:38:49,310 --> 00:38:51,448 the solar system is like a ping-pong game 748 00:38:51,517 --> 00:38:54,586 with meteorites carrying microbial lifeforms, 749 00:38:54,655 --> 00:38:57,689 going back and forth between Venus, Mars, 750 00:38:57,758 --> 00:38:59,758 the Earth and the Moon. 751 00:38:59,862 --> 00:39:02,862 This has given momentum to the panspermia theory. 752 00:39:04,206 --> 00:39:06,482 SHATNER: Some scientists have suggested that if the theory 753 00:39:06,551 --> 00:39:08,344 of panspermia is true, 754 00:39:08,413 --> 00:39:12,724 then it's possible that extraterrestrial viruses 755 00:39:12,793 --> 00:39:16,482 could also travel here, bringing with them diseases 756 00:39:16,586 --> 00:39:18,344 that would be much different 757 00:39:18,448 --> 00:39:21,551 from the ones that exist on Earth. 758 00:39:21,655 --> 00:39:23,310 MICHAEL DENNIN: When you think about the core elements 759 00:39:23,379 --> 00:39:26,344 of viral plagues-- those are the four genetic codes, 760 00:39:26,448 --> 00:39:29,068 DNA or RNA within a protein shell-- 761 00:39:29,172 --> 00:39:31,620 that's something that's easier to imagine being stable 762 00:39:31,689 --> 00:39:33,448 deep inside an asteroid, and safe. 763 00:39:33,551 --> 00:39:35,965 And so any sort of virus or plague, 764 00:39:36,068 --> 00:39:37,931 you can imagine them starting from 765 00:39:38,034 --> 00:39:40,551 one of these asteroid events. 766 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:44,586 A space plague is a leap into the unknown. 767 00:39:44,655 --> 00:39:47,655 We have no way of knowing what kinds of DNA, 768 00:39:47,724 --> 00:39:51,310 or maybe a modified DNA version exists in outer space. 769 00:39:52,620 --> 00:39:56,965 We have never seen other kinds of viruses from outer space 770 00:39:57,034 --> 00:39:59,689 that can infect Earthlings. 771 00:39:59,793 --> 00:40:02,000 So right now we simply don't know the answer. 772 00:40:02,103 --> 00:40:05,379 DENNIN: I think if a plague came from outer space, 773 00:40:05,482 --> 00:40:07,724 just like the way some of the plagues we know 774 00:40:07,793 --> 00:40:10,275 jump from animals to humans, suddenly, 775 00:40:10,344 --> 00:40:13,827 any sudden change in the viruses 776 00:40:13,896 --> 00:40:16,379 or bacteria that are attacking you as a human, 777 00:40:16,448 --> 00:40:19,620 your immune system will not have a defense to, most likely. 778 00:40:19,689 --> 00:40:21,689 These dramatic events, whether it's from space 779 00:40:21,793 --> 00:40:24,275 or a sudden jumping from animals to humans, 780 00:40:24,344 --> 00:40:27,241 are the reason these plagues can be so devastating. 781 00:40:27,344 --> 00:40:30,758 SHATNER: A plague from outer space? 782 00:40:30,827 --> 00:40:33,000 While that may seem like a far-fetched notion, 783 00:40:33,103 --> 00:40:37,827 it's a possibility that science must be prepared for. 784 00:40:37,931 --> 00:40:40,206 WYNN: There are always these viruses out there, 785 00:40:40,310 --> 00:40:41,586 these things that we can't explain. 786 00:40:41,655 --> 00:40:45,241 It's important for us to always be vigilant, to be aware 787 00:40:45,310 --> 00:40:47,103 and to have our public health authorities 788 00:40:47,172 --> 00:40:48,517 always on the lookout. 789 00:40:48,620 --> 00:40:50,034 So we can never put our guard down. 790 00:40:50,103 --> 00:40:52,241 DENNIN: Hopefully, the faster we are 791 00:40:52,310 --> 00:40:54,517 and the better we are at bioengineering, 792 00:40:54,586 --> 00:40:57,551 the faster we can make vaccines and countermeasures. 793 00:40:57,655 --> 00:41:00,413 It's key to have them so that we can make ways 794 00:41:00,482 --> 00:41:02,034 to protect ourselves. 795 00:41:02,137 --> 00:41:05,068 Preparing for any disease is complex, 796 00:41:05,172 --> 00:41:10,068 and it requires a lot of, um, mobilization of government, 797 00:41:10,172 --> 00:41:13,724 public health, and the science to be able to figure out 798 00:41:13,827 --> 00:41:16,965 what happened, and to prevent it from happening again. 799 00:41:17,034 --> 00:41:21,172 To be able to halt transmission of this disease, whatever it is. 800 00:41:21,275 --> 00:41:24,310 It becomes a detective story as well. 801 00:41:24,379 --> 00:41:27,310 You need to figure out where it came from 802 00:41:27,379 --> 00:41:29,275 and how to attribute the disease. 803 00:41:29,379 --> 00:41:33,172 It's a mystery that our lives depend on, 804 00:41:33,241 --> 00:41:35,241 and we need people to be working on that 805 00:41:35,344 --> 00:41:37,551 and thinking about that. 806 00:41:37,620 --> 00:41:41,586 Perhaps what makes deadly diseases so frightening 807 00:41:41,655 --> 00:41:44,724 is that we never know when they're going to strike next. 808 00:41:44,827 --> 00:41:48,241 And that uncertainty is also what forces us 809 00:41:48,310 --> 00:41:52,206 to ask ourselves are we really safe? 810 00:41:52,310 --> 00:41:56,137 Well, the truth is that only time will tell. 811 00:41:56,241 --> 00:41:58,448 Which means that, at least for now, 812 00:41:58,551 --> 00:42:03,241 these questions will remain unexplained. 813 00:42:03,344 --> 00:42:06,000 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A E NETWORKS