The next Cafe Scientifique presentation will be on Tuesday from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Colorado Mountain College auditorium. A recently produced film documentary, “Tuberculosis-the White Death” will be shown, with a preview of the art and science of film production to be presented by the producer, Hans Rosenwinkel, assistant professor of Film and Video Production at the University of Colorado, Denver. Rosenwinkel is also is a freelance writer, producer, editor and cinematographer, with prior projects with National Geographic, Discovery Channels International, PBS, FoxSports and HDnet.

Included in the tuberculosis documentary are re-enactments of Dr. Robert Koch’s discovery of the tubercle bacillus and his official 1882 public announcement of this bacterium as the cause of tuberculosis, scenes depicting activities during the days of the tuberculosis sanitarium, including work at National Jewish Hospital in Denver. Also showcased are international researchers Mulualem Agonafir, from Ethiopia, and Dr. Valerie Mizrahi from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, who were interviewed while attending a 2009 Keystone Symposia on tuberculosis at the Keystone Conference Center, and shared their experience with the scourge of tuberculosis in less developed regions. Film footage of the famous Koch Institute in Berlin, together with interviews with members of the staff and local tuberculosis practitioners, are also included.

Also included are film clips that depict the laboratory, radiological and clinical procedures leading to the current diagnosis of tuberculosis. According to reports from the World Health Organization, approximately 4,000 people a day worldwide are currently dying from tuberculosis, with an annual rate in the range of 1.5 million.

The purpose of the documentary is to serve as an educational outreach to health care workers and the public at large to bring about an awareness of the basic bacteriology of this organism and what humans must do both to protect themselves from acquiring and transmitting infections, and measures being taken for containment.

Everyone is invited to attend this summary of the current status of tuberculosis and view the professionally produced documentary. There is no admission charge. For more information call (970) 453-2685.