The Nature of Things

The Hidden Killer: Portrait of an Epidemic (40x2)

Air date: Oct 18, 1999

Imagine if a new disease suddenly began to kill off some of the healthiest young people in your community. Starting with flu-like symptoms, it soon escalates and kills its victims within hours. People literally drown as their lungs fill with fluid. In the spring of 1993, a young Navajo couple and their infant son were just beginning their life together when unexpectedly and unannounced, tragedy struck.