a. How the immune system fights infectious diseases
b. Microbe factfile
c. Smallpox and the development of vaccination
d. Microbes can survive in difficult environments
e. Preventing the transmission of infectious disease
f. Antibiotics

Meningitis C is a rapidly developing and deadly disease caused by bacteria. We meet a teenage survivor of the disease and find out about the symptoms. Our bodies have an immune system that allows us to fight bacterial infection. Vaccination prevents us from getting the disease by preparing the immune system in advance.

The three most important groups of microbes are examined in detail. A fact file is created to compare the size, shape and lifestyle of bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Although many microbes are useful or harmless, some are deadly. Smallpox has been eradicated but it was once a terrifying illness. We explore the history of this killer disease and find out how efforts to control it have resulted in the familiar technique of vaccination. Now that smallpox has been eradicated, the World Health Organisation (WHO) aims to wipe out the polio virus by 2005. We discover some of the difficulties involved in running an international vaccination campaign.

Microbes can survive in the most amazing situations from the hottest desert to the depths of the oceans, and possibly on other planets. Through poetry, (see the Background section for a full listing of the poems used in the programme), we begin to appreciate the amazing variety of microbes and their ability to adapt to almost any environment.

Warm, wet places are just what microbes need if they are going to grow quickly. Unfortunately our bodies fit the bill all too well. Bacteria grow very quickly on or in our bodies and are easily passed on to other people …or to food! The Skin Research Centre investigates the value of washing. Endless washing will not remove all the bacteria from our hands, but most of the harmful ones disappear with good old soap and water.

Microbes can be useful as well. The Penicillium mould produces a chemical that kills certain types of bacteria. Antibiotics only affect bacteria and some bacteria are now resistant to several types of antibiotic. Viruses, such as those that cause the common cold, flu and AIDS, are not affected by antibiotics. Research continues to identify new antibiotics and other ways of controlling microbes.

00.23 What causes meningitis C?
Meningitis is a killer disease that takes hold of the body rapidly. We meet Sarah Burgman, a teenager who spent two weeks in a coma. After recovering she was left with scars and the loss of four fingertips. Meningitis C is caused by a bacterium which can grow so quickly that it overwhelms your body’s natural defences.

01.47 How can your body fight disease?
Bacteria are too small to see, so microscope footage and 3D graphic animation explain how the body’s immune system responds to infection. White blood cells can engulf microbes whole or they can produce antibodies. Antibodies are chemicals that clump bacteria together so that they cannot grow. White blood cells can then mop them up.

04.43 How do vaccines work?
Vaccinations prepare the immune system so that it can respond rapidly to infection. A nationwide vaccination programme has dramatically reduced the incidence of meningitis. A second animation shows how a vaccine causes the population of white blood cells responsible for fighting a particular microbe to grow. Some of these cells remain in the blood after the vaccination so that the body’s immune response has a head start if an infection occurs in the future.

05.47 What are microbes like?
A factfile communicates the key points about bacteria, viruses and fungi. What do they look like? How do they get what they need to stay alive? How do they grow and reproduce?

07.16 How was vaccination invented?
One of the most dangerous infectious diseases was the first to be eradicated across the world. We explore the history of vaccination with our presenter. A mixture of stills, animation and historical footage traces the development of vaccination against smallpox. In China, dried smallpox scabs were used as a vaccine whilst in Africa and India, pus from smallpox sores was the remedy. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu brought back information about vaccination from Turkey and Edward Jenner developed the technique of using the related disease cowpox, which is less dangerous.

In the 1960s the World Health Organisation decided to eradicate smallpox, and in 1980 the last death from the disease was recorded. Now the WHO aims to eliminate polio by 2005. The cost and difficulty involved in vaccinating large numbers of people make this a difficult project.

10.32 What do microbes need to live?
Microbes can live almost anywhere. A montage of shots illustrates the range of challenging environments inhabited by microbes and asks the question, will microbes be found on other planets?

11.06 Where do microbes grow?
A tour of everyday places shows that microbes can grow in toilets, on damp towels, in soil, down the plug hole and so on. Warm wet places are best and that includes our bodies. There are more microbes living on your hand than people living on Earth. We see how a handprint on a dish of nutrient agar jelly will grow hundreds of colonies of bacteria in 24 hours.

11.33 Does washing help to stop infectious diseases spreading?
At the Skin Research Centre we meet some of the microbes from our teeth and our armpits! Lots of these are harmless, but how can we get rid of dangerous microbes? A researcher explains how washing helps to remove temporary visitors but no amount of scrubbing will remove all the microbes from our skin - and most of these are harmless.

14.51 What are antibiotics?
Probably the most important use that we have found for microbes is to help kill other microbes. Antibiotics are chemicals originally made by fungi. They prevent the growth of bacteria. The first antibiotic was penicillin, purified from the Penicillium mould. Original footage shows Alexander Fleming at work in his laboratory where he discovered the effects of penicillin in 1928. Penicillin was difficult to isolate and it took until 1944 and the last years of the Second World War before the drug was widely available. Microscopic footage shows how penicillin destroys bacterial cells.

16.33 What next after antibiotics?
The widespread use of antibiotics has led to the appearance of strains of bacteria that are resistant to certain antibiotics. Research continues to produce new antibiotics. Other microbes such as viruses are not affected by antibiotics and the search for vaccines against the viruses that cause the common cold, flu and AIDS continues.

The poet Lemn Sissay explains that microbes are everywhere and that we couldn’t live without them. Some are dangerous but some are very useful indeed.