Episode
NOVA: Lassa Fever
Overview
A gripping docudrama about a mysterious, highly lethal disease which struck a village in Nigeria in 1969, and the frustrating, seesaw battle against it. NOVA recounts how public health workers came perilously close to accidentally releasing a deadly virus in the US.
Details
- Series
- NOVA
- Season
- Season 10
- Episode
- Episode 3
- Air date
- 1983-02-08
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
Lassa Fever is Episode 3 in Season 10 of NOVA. It aired on 1983-02-08. The runtime is 55 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 2: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
NOVA captivates a remarkably candid portrait of Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, a man of few pretensions and tremendous personal charm, who speaks with the same passion about a child's toy wagon and the frontiers of subatomic physics.
Episode 4: The Miracle of Life
NOVA presents the first film ever made of the incredible chain of events which turns a sperm and an egg into a newborn baby. Amazing photographic techniques give the viewers the feeling of being reduced to the size of cells, following the sperm on its perilous voyage toward the egg, and meeting protectors and enemies along the way—like Ulysses on a microscopic odyssey.
More episodes from this season
Episode 1: Hawaii: Crucible of Life
This land of fire and beauty is the most isolated island chain in the world. NOVA cameras uncover an extraordinary world far from the teeming tourist hotels, one filled with unique life forms, but also scarred by tragic extinction.
Episode 5: Asbestos: A Lethal Legacy
Every 58 minutes between now and the end of the century, one American will die from asbestos exposure. NOVA turns its spotlight on the tragic consequences of asbestos use and on the current controversy over who is responsible.
Episode 6: City of Coral
NOVA takes a spellbinding voyage through one of the world's most fascinating and colorful ecosystems: a coral reef, where the line between plants and animals is blurred, "rocks" move, eat and fight, fish farm, and weak animals borrow the shields and weapons of stronger ones.
Episode 7: Fat Chance in a Thin World
"Why can't I lose weight?" It's a question many Americans ask themselves everyday. NOVA comes up with some surprising answers about weight and dieting that could have significant impact on our daily lives.
Episode 8: Sixty Minutes to Meltdown
The accident at Three Mile Island made front page news all over the world and rocked the entire nuclear power industry. In this special 90-minute broadcast, NOVA presents a docudrama chronicling the minute-by-minute events leading up to the accident and examines the questions raised about safety confronting nuclear power industry today.
Episode 9: Signs of the Apes, Songs of the Whales
The dream of talking with animals has been with us for centuries. NOVA explores the latest research, from language experiments with dolphins and apes to studies of animal calls in the wild.
Episode 10: The Artificial Heart
Seattle dentist Barney Clark received the first artificial heart implant in 1982. He died in March 1983, having survived 112 days with the world's first permanent, pneumatic, totally artificial heart. NOVA follows the case with the surgeon, William DeVries, and looks at the prospects for this technology to save lives. It also explored the work of Dr. William F. Bernhard on the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) ongoing at the Cardiovascular Surgical Research Laboratories, Boston Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Episode 11: Talking Turtle
NOVA looks at computers in the classroom through the eyes of MIT's Seymour Papert, father of the Turtle—a computerized robot that crawls on the floor and talks in versatile language even five-year-olds can learn.
Episode 12: Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial
Remote tribes and exotic islanders have been made known to the world through the lens of anthropology. But in recent years, some of these people have begun to object. NOVA travels to Margaret Mead's Papua New Guinea and looks at anthropology from the other side.
Episode 13: To Live Until You Die: The Work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has become a legend in her lifetime for her work with the dying. For the first time on American television, her explorations with patients are captured in film, as NOVA presents an intimate portrait of the Swiss-born psychiatrist at work.