TVScope: Fiorsceal, TG4, Thursday, 9.05pm
The real 'mother of all wars' being waged throughout the world at this moment does not get the breathless headlines reserved for our capacity to destroy each other. Yet, as this documentary demonstrated, we will all be decimated if the war being fought on our behalf by scientists against the virus is lost.
Sars, we were warned, could easily have become another Spanish Flu. In 1918-19, it resulted in up to 60 million people worldwide turning black and dying within days. Its spread was halted through widespread quarantining, and the use of technology, such as heat sensors at airports to prevent people with infections from travelling.
However, our insistence on destroying this world we live in, with half of the landmass of earth now having being changed by humans, has apparently increased the risk of super killer viruses emerging, with the world now being confronted every few years with a new virus with the potential to wipe us out.
Despite this, progress has been made in the last century, with one of the most significant achievements being the eradication of smallpox in the 70s. Archive clips of horribly scarred survivors showed how important a victory that was. Still, in Africa, the Ebola virus continues to wipe out communities, and the disturbing footage of the "astronauts" in their protective clothing, arriving to bury the dead without ceremony, showed what was still to be achieved.
The documentary pulled us back from the brink of hopelessness by introducing some of the scientists we now need to place our hope and trust in. They were an impressive lot, with some having devoted their whole lives to what one described as "his very dangerous passion" of defeating viruses.
For some this involves digging up the bodies of Spanish Flu victims from the frozen grounds of Alaska, to retrieve genetic material which will help to unlock the secret of that virus. For others their work takes place in laboratories constructed from the same materials used in the nuclear industry, as viruses can infiltrate both rubber and concrete.
Computer technology has been an invaluable ally to them. It was, however, the invention of the electron microscope which has provided remarkable insight into viruses.
Most startling for the viewer was how stunningly beautiful the geometric, multicoloured, kaleidoscope images of the deadly virus structures are.
That these are indeed a terrible beauty was borne out by the hopeful ending to the documentary, which showed how deadly viruses are now being used as weapons against cancer. Already, trials have extended the lives of those with liver cancer by one year.
Artificial viruses are being created in laboratories to treat neurological diseases. It would be a wonderful triumph if we could turn our most deadly enemy into our ally.
Review by Olive Travers, occupational psychologist