[Music]

[Target TB!]

[Produced by Willard Pictures]

[For General Electric X-ray Corporation]

[The National Tuberculosis Association]

[And United States Public Health Service]

[Original Music Score by Edwin E. Ludig, 

Photographed by William Steiner, A.S.C., 

Directed by William M. Nelson]

[Narrator:] This is an enemy. 

An enemy far more dangerous than any we've encountered in battle.

An enemy that is stealthy and insidious, silent and deadly. 

An enemy that works in the dark, in the warm, moist atmosphere of the tissues inside the human body, 

particularly in the lungs.

[Music]

particularly in the lungs.

Making this enemy even more vicious is the fact 

that it selects the majority of its victims 

from those who are in the most productive years of their lives, from 15 to 45. 

And this enemy is tireless, unrelenting. 

This year in the United States it will kill one person every nine minutes.

[Music]

In the three years following Pearl Harbor this enemy we've been talking about, 

working quietly at home, took more lives,

many more than were lost by all of our armed services 

on all of our battlegrounds.

The tragedy is that this horrible loss of life is unnecessary. 

For this enemy, whose name is tubercule bacillus, can be conquered.

Tuberculosis, the highly contagious disease that this microbe causes, is curable.

[Older man in hat:] Well, why aren't we doing something about it?

[Woman at typewriter:] Yes, why don't we drive it out of America once and for all?

[Man with mustache:] If it's curable, why don't we cure it?

[Narrator:] Well, as a matter of fact we are curing it, and we have been. 

For example, forty years ago, 

tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the United States. 

Today, it is seventh in line. 

So you see we have made progress, 

but we haven't made enough, until recently that is.

Why? Well, one of the most dangerous things about tuberculosis 

is that people are frequently not aware of it until the disease is fairly well advanced, 

and it is in the early stages, often before there are any recognizable symptoms, 

that it can be treated most effectively. 

So, the problem of curing tuberculosis is a matter of finding it, 

and finding it hasn't been easy when most victims of the disease 

don't even suspect they have it until it has really taken hold. 

The most reliable and accurate way to detect tuberculosis is by means of an X-ray examination of the chest, 

but with this being the only sure method, 

it is not strange that so many cases have gone undiscovered. 

For few of us, particularly if we're feeling all right, 

ever think of dropping in at the hospital or a clinic for a chest X-ray, 

and yet if every man, woman, and child in the United States long ago had done just this, 

we might have tuberculosis licked right this minute. 

Well, today we are getting underway with an all-out, unrelenting determination. 

War has been declared on tuberculosis.

One of the newest and best weapons in this war 

is a type of X-ray equipment that is truly portable. 

Using it, federal, state, county, and city health department and Tuberculosis Associations

are today making it possible to bring the means 

for locating and stamping out tuberculosis literally to the doorstep of the nation.

In places like large industrial plants, 

where a great many people can be examined at one time,

the equipment is set up on the premises. 

Affordable X-ray units will soon be coming to you here.

To see what just happens, let's take a look at Eileen Brown, the stenographer. 

We find her entertaining some girls at her home.

[First woman on sofa:] Do you know anything about this X-ray business, Eileen?

[Eileen:] I read about it coming home on the bus. 

It says one of those portable X-ray jobs will be stationed

down by the firehouse all next week. 

[Second woman on sofa:] Are you going to have yours taken?

[Eileen:] I guess so. Why not? It's free. 

And besides, I want to be sure I'm healthy. 

I'd hate to present Tom with a wife who is anything but a hundred percent perfect when he gets back.

Come on, chums. Here's a snack that'll feed the body. Come and get it.

[Second woman:] Mmm, wonderful. I'm starved. Thank you.

[First woman:] Mmm. Gee, that was good. I'll probably be awake all night,

but I'd love another cup of coffee.

[Second woman:] You know, I'm kind of afraid. 

[Eileen:] Oh? What of?

[Second woman:] That X-ray business. I'll bet it hurts.

[Eileen:] Why, that's nonsense. Haven't you ever had an X-ray at the dentist? 

They don't hurt.

[First woman:] One of those units came to my husband's [?] about a month ago and he had one made.

He said there wasn't anything to it. It only took a few minutes.

I'm worried about another part, though.

[Second woman:] What's that?

[First woman:] Well, suppose you do have it. 

Doesn't that mean that you'd have to quit work, 

and go to a sanitorium, and maybe get operated on? 

Well, you know.

[Eileen:] That's silly. It says here that if you do have it, and they let you know privately, 

chances are you have a mild case that can be cured with rest. 

That doesn't sound very grim to me. 

And besides, if you had it, you'd want to be cured as soon as you could be, wouldn't you?

And the earlier you discover you've got it, 

the quicker you can be cured. 

That sounds like sense to me. 

Besides, what if you do kid yourself and don't get it done? 

You don't expect it to go away by pretending it isn't there, do you?

[Narrator:] Eileen Brown is wise to realize that she's doing herself and others a favor 

by taking advantage of this X-ray service. 

Let's watch as she goes through the procedure. 

First, she supplies certain information about herself:

her name, address, age, sex, marital status and so on. 

Then in a private dressing booth, 

she changes into a cape that has been given her for this purpose. 

Now we're ready for the X-ray.

[X-ray tech:] Now we'll measure your chest.

[Nurse:] You can stand right over here, please.

Stand straight with your shoulders turned forward. Well that's fine. Now don't move.

All right.

[X-ray tech:] Take a deep breath. Hold it. Now relax. 

[Nurse:] That's all, easy, wasn't it?

[Eileen:] It certainly was. That's as simple as having a snapshot taken. 

[Nurse:] It's simpler. You don't have to worry about the sun getting in your eyes.

[Giggles]

[Narrator:] Some time later the films are developed and then examined by a specialist. 

Many people who do not have tuberculosis have found this free X-ray examination worthwhile,

because it has revealed other chest and heart conditions 

that warranted investigation by a physician. 

Of the millions of people already examined, 

only about one and one half percent were found to have any tuberculosis, 

[1.5 per cent]

but it is by finding this small percentage of apparently healthy people, and curing them, 

that we're going to control tuberculosis and finally eradicate it. 

Eradicate it so the citizens of a strong America will be able to enjoy life to the fullest 

and will be able to pass on the priceless legacy of health to the generations to come. 

Think a moment, don't you think it is worthwhile for you to have your chest X-rayed?

[Music]

[The End]