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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1977)
T THE BATTALION Page 5 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1977 ause of mystery disease found Two can ride cheaper than one.. United Press International LANTA— Six months of medi- jetective work have unlocked the :ery of what caused the “Le- aire’s Disease,” which killed 29 'as presiysons last summer, and also may rtpwnCpvide answers for unexplained ersity Lipase outbreaks in the past. liamp, IBut scientists still don’t know how romOrjie newly discovered germ was > to Sotansmitted to 180 persons who last yea sited a Philadelphia convention pi, or how it got there. Research solve the remainder of the puzzle jalready begun. don’t know how it was trans- led,” Dr. David Sencer, director of the national Center for Disease Control (CDC), said yesterday. “But we now know what to look for.” What CDC scientists found was a large, slow-growing bacterium that appeared to be a gram-negative bacillus. The germ has not yet been given a name. (A gram-negative bacillus may be identified through a method developed byH.C.J. Gram, a Danish physician.) “We don’t know its place in the bacteriological world,” said Dr. Charles C. Shephard, chief virologist at CDC. But he said comparative tests in dicated it also was behind the msterious disease that killed eight mental patients at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., in 1966. He said tests would be made to see if it also was involved in the “Pontiac Fever” that caused wide spread illness in Pontiac, Mich., in 1968. “We are dealing with a very real phenomenon, which has been pres ent in the past but has never been recognized,” Sencer said. Dr. Joseph E. McDade, who dis covered the organism and began ex periments with it last month, said tests of blood samples from 33 pa tients who came down with the pneumonia-like illness confirrried that 29 were infected with the or ganism. McDade concluded the germ was the “most probable cause" of the dis ease and any other conclusion was “highly unlikely.” Microbiologists at CDC said the organism was difficult to grow in or dinary laboratory cultures, which is why it was not discovered sooner. Those who came down with the disease had been in the Bellevue- Stratfbrd Hotel around the time of a state American Legion convention last July. They included 149 Le gionnaires, 30 other visitors and a hotel repairman. The hotel was later forced to close because of the ad verse publicity. The CDC said that the incidence of the disease was associated not only with time spent in the hotel, but also with time spent in the lobby. Shephard said that the organism was not transmitted from person to person, because those who came in contact with victims of the disease did not catch it. The CDC said no thing has been ruled out as the transmission medium. “It doesn’t appear to be an usual organism of importance in human disease,” Sencer said, and Shephard said it was totally unrelated to any known agents employed in germ warfare. A PUI>K S«va d Mmttv • Tha MtBTtarw Cow* '■Legislators view sex-education films United Press International possibi not on] ) n main ^ losts, li JUSTIN — Outside the Capitol etterani fee they were serving coffee and improvtokies and handing out leaflets; in- xlucersi e they were showing childrens’ imers itpvies featuring nude couples hav- antially g sex. 1977,” [The group outside sponsored the Hoes inside to let legislators know Kit materials were being pur- 7 lased by state funds for sex educa- /(fe classes ' pThey always used to pat us on kout iV undry J alt diet blamed era! Sand pages, ce-presi! tional fi iction \ i elation rded t engiii ;nt. AGGIE CLEANERS 111 N. MAIN — NORTHGATE UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT Don’t cry over spots, spills & rips — Bring your clothes to Aggie Cleaners for “Custom Aggie Care” the heads and send us away like they knew what was best for our children,” said Mrs. James McAuley, head of the National Congress for Educational Excel lence. “They treated us like our girdles were too tight, and everything would he all right if we’d just go home and loosen them. But they know now our girdles fit fine, and we have the facts.” Mrs. McAuley of Fort Worth said Tuesday the-film the group was ask ing legislators to Watch was one shown in Texas junior high class rooms. Invitations labeled it a “Kid die Peep Show.” Although she said the group was sponsoring no legislative program, she said it did want legislators to see the material being purchased with money they appropriated. “It’s an overwhelming problem that goes across political lines, racial Expert claims salt tie to heart disease United Press International IAN ANTONIO — There is iry persuasive” evidence that salt ods promotes the-development jgh blood pressure in people ge- cally susceptible to it, a Massa- Jsetts specialist said today, furthermore, Dr, Lot B. Page entatioijd he believes the life-long low- es havejt diets of some cultures enable build jbse peoples to avoid the ailment duringp now afflicts an estimated 24 mil- Americans. he American Heart Association high blood pressure, or hyper- jsion, is a leading cause of disease death in the United States. It result in stroke'; heart failure kidney disease. BWe know that high blood pres- '"“‘’ire has its roots in early life, said U ffie, a hypertension expert from Iwton-Wellesley Hospital, New- -in Lower Falls, Mass. ITl “ffw 0 could do something to alter ie salt habits of our children, we G & light make a tremendous impact this whole vast public health pA * i0 ''roblem.” Page told a heart association sym posium that research has shown most children and adults need no more than 200 milligrams — one tenth of a teaspoon of salt — a day. Even under the most strenuous cir cumstances, he said, one teaspoon is adequate. “According to dietetic sources, the standard American diet contains about 5,000 mg of sodium and is often more due to the use of snack foods,” Page said in a report re leased today. Page said if the American public, with the help of the food industry, would switch to a low-salt diet, he believes anywhere from 50 to 90 per cent of high blood pressure cases could be eliminated in one genera tion. Literary magazine due in April The first literary magazine from Texas A&M University in 20 years is dup in ApriJ. Feb, I is thQ.submis sion deadline for “Moebius. ’ “Moebius” is being produced by the Memorial Student Center Arts Committee at A&M, and is staffed by students. Junior Susie Turner is the editor. Turner said the proposed 100- page magazine had received $1,500 in support from the MSC and would be the first literary magazine pub lished by a campus group since 1954. NORTHGATE /.I Ai -3L~i 1. i \\. ./; v T\ yi | \ iV 1.1 1 A;,, 1: ? TENNIS • SWIMMING • HANDBALL • HEALTH CLUB ICE SKATING • PRIVATE PARKING • ELECTRONIC SECURITY <orthgate, a new condominium to >e built one block from campus. While you invest your time for that everlasting education, give iyour parents a chance to invest in your university housing. An offer which may yield them some interesting tax benefits. Ehis does not constititute an offer which may be made only by a written prospectus. raniiiMiaiai lines and social lines,” she said. “This movement originated long ago in the right wing, but there is no doubt in my mind now this is the mainstream of American life.” Mrs. McAuley also had films for legislators on group discussions of masturbation, homosexuality, birth control, and venereal disease; and books on sex and drugs. She provided one teacher’s man ual approved by the Texas Educa tion Agency concerning drugs which told instructors: “The teacher has not only the ability but the re sponsibility to help students learn how to use drugs responsibly. Mrs. McAuley said the educa tional level of students had dropped in recent years while sex education courses were being funded. “For the first time in history, we’re graduating students less liter ate than the generation before,” she said. “We re just saying we’d rather “teach our children basic skills than these other things.” Peggy Jones, another NCEE member, echoed Mrs. McAuley’s feelings. “Our whole point is that the kids can’t read and write and do math,” she said. “So why are we worried about teaching them these things.” se< Only undergraduate students enrolled for at least 12 hours per semester during the 1976-77 school year, and graduate students enrolled for at least nine per semes ter, are eligible to enter. Students may enter up to three prose selections, six poetry works, 10 photographs and 10 works of art. All must be original. Specifics on format of entries and length may be obtained from Turner, adviser Karen Zantow or through one of the blue brochures which have been distributed around campus describing the magazine. Agsieland Flower I & Gift Shop I Welcome Back ! ■ Aggies | § Come By and See Our Many New Selections 1 Plants & Hallmark Cards | Posters — Candles — Roses & | Other Fresh Flowers | Open 8-5:30 846-5825 | 209 University Dr. (Next to Campus Theatre) 846-5825 We Wire Flowers Worldwide OPEN 10 ^ 7 ./it 5 315 »l§#yi 81&55I5 1 TiliSl NORM WEEKLY SPECIAL LPs 3.99 (Reg. 4.99) Waylin Jennings “Live” Grover Washington “Secret Places” ZZ Top “Tejas” “Alvin Crow & the Pleasant Valley Boys” Rod Stewart “Greatest Hits” Vol. II Reg. $5.99 Double L.P. SALE $4.99 Bong Special from Ceres Family Import LPs T-Shirts Reg. $7.50 Saturn Bong Now Only SgOO Sale thru Sat. Jan. 22 Blank Tapes & Accessories PARAPHERNALIA February issue of “High Times” in stock. the audible dl/ferenee At Sound Center we’re dedicated to music, not mass marketing or technical jargon. That’s why we spend a lot of time searching out components that deliver the most accurate sound per dollar (like the Kenwood KR-4600 Stereo Receiver below). If you’re tired of being hustled and hastled, come to Sound Center and hear what you’ve been missing. $ KENWOOD KR-4600 STEREO AM-FM RECEIVER 30 Watts Per Channel, Min. RMS at 8 ohms, 20-20k Hz, with no more than 0.5% total harmonic distortion Reg. $299.95 SPECIAL $9QQ95 PRICE ^057 SOUND CENTER’S “NO NONSENSE” GUARANTEE How can you go wrong? Sound Center guarantees that any audio component or sys tem can not be bought for less in the State of Texas. If you have proof that it can, Sound Center will refund the difference. Fair enough? 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