The Gambian case.

Date:
1988
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Credit

The Gambian case. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

A dramatic historical reconstruction of the discovery in 1901 by Drs Michael Forde, a colonial medical officer at Bathurst in the Gambia, and Joseph Everett Dutton (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) of trypanosome parasites in the blood of an Irish sailor suffering from the early stages of African sleeping sickness. This was the first time that trypanosomes had been detected in the blood of a European, and helped to dispel the belief that the disease only affected Africans. With Alexander John as Dr Michael Forde and Andrew Solomon as Dr Everett Dutton. 4 segments.

Publication/Creation

London : Wellcome Trust, 1988.

Physical description

1 encoded moving image (22 min.) : sound, color

Duration

00:22:03

Copyright note

Wellcome Trust 2009

Terms of use

Unrestricted
CC-BY-NC
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales

Language note

In English

Creator/production credits

Wellcome Trust Film Unit -- Researched and written by Dr Billie Williams; directed by Anthony Palmer; photographer: Paul Bernard; micro photographer: Douglas Fisher; music: Kevin Pyne.

Contents

Segment 1 In the opening scene, Dr Kelly is shown entering a room, pouring water and washing his face. He looks into a mirror on the wall then sits down at his desk. He looks unwell as he loosens his collar then unrolls a map and looks at it. An intertitle reads: British West Africa Bathurst, The Gambia, December, 1901. We see Dr Forde sitting on a veranda, reading. Dr Dutton arrives. Forde and Dutton drink tea and discuss the weather before turning to the topic of Kelly. Forde tells how he admitted Kelly to hospital, thinking he'd caught malaria. The scene fades out as he speaks. Time start: 00:00:00:00 Time end: 00:04:51:10 Length: 00:04:51:10
Segment 2 We now flash back to a shot of Kelly's room. Kelly enters and takes off his boots, lies back on the bed and seems feverish. This cuts to a shot of Kelly in a hospital bed, very feverish with eyes closed. Forde, in a white coat, appears at the foot of the bed - his voice narrates over this scene, telling how Kelly did not respond to quinine, the standard treatment for malaria. We return to the earlier scene of Forde and Dutton on the veranda in Gambia. Forde tells Dutton that he saw some unusual parasites in Kelly's blood, he's not sure what they are and he'd like Dutton to examine Kelly but Dutton has to go on a boat trip for two weeks. They agree to introduce Dutton to Kelly now and make the examination when Dutton is back. Time start: 00:04:51:10 Time end: 00:10:10:00 Length: 00:05:18:15
Segment 3 Forde and Dutton enter a hospital room where Kelly is lying in bed. Forde introduces Dutton to Kelly. Later Dutton is on the veranda remembering something Kelly was mumbling about a ship, flies and heat. This cuts to a scene in which Dutton is examining Kelly in his hospital bed. Forde enters and Dutton explains that he has nearly finished. Forde takes blood from Kelly's finger then is called away unexpectedly by the ward sister. Time start: 00:10:10:00 Time end: 00:15:07:19 Length: 00:04:57:19
Segment 4 The scene opens with Kelly looking worried as he turns his head to Dutton who is seated in a chair where he looks down a microscope. He appears surprised by what he has seen. Forde returns. Dutton tells him that the worms he had been puzzled about in Kelly's blood are trypanosomes. He tells Forde to look for himself. We see a view of the trypanosomes as though through the microscope. Forde and Dutton discuss how these could be causing Kelly's symptoms. Dutton is excited at the discovery as nobody has found trypanosomes in the blood of a white man before. Both doctors speak to Kelly and explain why he is unwell. The next scene shows Kelly in his own room, appearing well. Forde narrates over it, giving details of his treatment. Then, over a still photograph of Kelly, Forde admits that he died. Forde continues to narrate over a scene of he and Dutton shaking hands on the veranda in Gambia. He tells of what Dutton did next: traveling and researching tick fever, from which he died. A still photograph is shown of Dutton. Finally, we see Forde sitting on the veranda. In voiceover, he tells how he stayed in West Africa for a long time and lived a few years when he returned home. A still photograph is shown of Forde, which pans out to show a group photograph which includes Kelly and Dutton. In voiceover Forde laments that he never realised how close he was to finding the cause of sleeping sickness. Time start: 00:15:07:19 Time end: 22:03:13 Length: 00:06:55:19

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