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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1978
Risks small in influenza study
By KEITH TAYLOR
Battalion Reporter
The second phase of a research project to find a vaccine effective
against Russian flu is under way at Texas AScM University.
The project Is being conducted by the Influenza Research Center
of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M’s Medical
School and Texas A&M’s Beutel Health Center.
Dr, Tom Cate, associate director of microbiology and medicine at
lylor, said the purpose of the project is to find an effective method
to combat many strains of flu.
The study being done here involves the use of nosedrops contain-
glive Russian flu virus,
Cate said a small percentage of the vaccine is virus and that it
should not cause any bad side effects.
"About one out of every five get a runny nose and nasal obstruc
tion, Cate said: “About one out of 20 may get muscle aches and low
ade fever,” he added.
Participants in the study must be between the ages of 1$ and 25,
and free of any chronic ailments. Pregnant people and persons aller
gic to eggs cannot participate.
The cultures for the vaccine were grown in eggs, so the vaccine
could cause a reaction.
Also, anyone who will come in contact with „ ... „ ;
years-old or over 65 within 10 days cannot tafce the vaccine.
People interested in taking part in the study s* | -
Friday at either the health center or the the Cm
health center is open between 9 a.m. and 4:30
mons Lounge facility between 7:30 p.m. and 9;:
People taking part in the study must give as _
Cate said some of the vaccines are placebos and would
effect on preventing the flu. The placebos are given as a ■
Two weeks after the vaccine is given, volunteers will
postcard asking if they have been sick. 'Three to five
another hood sample will be taken.
postcard returned and $5 for any illness evaluation or virus culture
taken. '
was given the vaccine, the other a placebo. This was done to see if the
vaccine could be transmitted, Cate said.
There was no evidence of transmission, he said.
Cake pays $100 at bank
United Press International
KATY — It was the best $100
check Francie Baltazar had ever
eaten.
Francie received a $100 check for
her 17th birthday, cashed it at a
bank, then she and the teller ate it.
Her mother. Candy Baltazar, who
owns That Ice Cream Place, made
the 2-foot-long lemon ice cream
cake using one of her own checks as
a model.
“I’ve done other unusual things
for her birthday, but I guess this is
probably the farthest out I’ve ever
gone,” Ms. Baltazar said.
“She does something weird every
year,” Francie said.
“I just took the cake and gave her
the $100 for it,” Katy National Bank
teller Dorothy Herrington said. “I
thought it was a very cute idea. We
do get to eat some of it.”
Herrington said it will be backed
up with a real check.
“There’s no way we can encode a
cake and run it through our
machines,” she laughed. “We’d
have to have something to back it
up.”
lu study attracts all kinds
By MARY C. BECKER
Special to the Battalion
Flu Blues.
i attractive woman in dark blue
it in a hallway of the Memorial
Sident Center, with a white coffee
and a stack of $10 bills beside
I. She asked passersby if they
mted to earn $10 by taking part in
i (lu study.
[Some shook their heads and
Iked on. The curious, the adven-
pus, and the greedy stopped. I
! in the last category.
I read through the handout ex-
|ning the study, taking careful
; of who was responsible for this,
just in case.
[My eye was caught by the para
ph dealing with side effects,
ly included vomiting, headaches,
cle aches, nasal obstruction and
bharge. I didn’t have anything
Jter planned for the evening.
1 panicked for a moment when I
they wanted 20 cubic cen-
eters of blood — my blood. I
It when I get a paper cut.
|y the end of the study, if I
ose to stay in the program, the
ip will have 60 cubic centimet-
ofmy blood or about 5 1-2 table-
ms. I decided I could spare that
:h.
wo cadets, one male, one
e, filled out their forms and
ed them to Marta McMurray,
woman behind the table. They
re finished with the immuniza-
i by the time I had finished the
erwork.
iter I checked off that I had no
jous illness, was not pregnant
om would be glad to hear that
), and was not allergic to chick-
or eggs, Marta handed me a
ite label with a number on it.
bceforth I would be known as
366 — or 66 to my friends,
propping my coat and purse on
floor, I was free to try for a
t-minute escape break. Gary
sel, the physican’s assistant,
iked up the rubber strip and tied
ibove my elbow.
J watched the vein swell up. He
deed up a test tube with a needle
tached to a rubber stopper and
me to relax. I practiced my
p breathing and waited for the
When the needle went in, the
iin was not noticeable. I looked
Jwn t my arm to see if he had
fen put the needle in. I watched,
tinated as the tube rapidly filled
iwith dark red blood, and then
tided to watch Gary’s plaid shirt
stead.
Vly older brother used to work as
unior vampire at a blood bank
ck home, so I know when some-
e is a good needle sticker. I de
led I had the best needle sticker
( the bunch. Later at another study
one of the helpers left the rub-
strip on a burly Corps cadet
ter he began drawing blood. Gary
alked by and mentioned, “You will
iitice the arm is starting to go to
isiao-ping
wishes
J.S. visit
United Press International
TOKYO — Chinese Vice Premier
ng Hsiao-ping said Wednesday
wants to visit the United States,
it not while Taiwan has an em-
ssy in Washington, Japan’s Kyodo
ws agency reported from Peking.
On Tuesday, 20,000 Chinese
juths rallied in Peking’s Tienan-
en Square in support of Teng and
emier Hua Kuo-feng and to de-
0nd democracy arid government
. ^ Maw. It was the largest; rally in the
Uare ' n more than two years.
An authoritative Chinese sppkes-
an also told foreign visitors Tu
y that harsh criticism of the late
kairman Mao Tse-tung, which
gan two weeks ago, is no longer
ceptable.
Teng, 74, an architect of China’s
-) 0U g Gra^ iustrial modernization program,
(Pressed his wish to visit America
Yoshikatsu Takeiri, chairman of
Pan’s Komei political party.
It was Teng’s latest in a series of
atements indicating China is grop-
g toward a compromise with the
nited States over Taiwan, the last
maining obstacle to full Sino-
Herican diplomatic relations.
mgreH
.. .Kim Wf
, Liz Ns"
Andy
Pari ^
.Steve
sbbie Pan 08
Rogers. ^
Pendlei;
e U e ScujJ
)oug
Ed Cun" 1 *
.Gary ^
btj ^
neutsfif
,j the ^
sleep.” He explained that the strip
can be taken off after the blood
starts flowing in the tube.
He pulled the needle out of my
arm, took the needle out of the
stopper and handed the test tube to
me. I was surprised to find the test
tube was still warm.
Gary put a cotton ball over the
puncture and told me to bend my
arm. One of the men in white lab
coats directed me to another chair.
His name, John M. Zahradnik, was
chain stitched in blue on the left
side of his coat with Influenza Re
search Center written under his
name.
He told me to lean my head back
as he filled up a medicine dropper
with a clear liquid from a small vial.
“Inhale,” he said and the eight
drops slid down the back of my
throat leaving a slightly sweet taste.
I had to sign a sheet saying I had
received my $10. Momentarily dis
oriented from blood loss and snort
ing nose drops, I signed the part I
was supposed to print and printed
my signature.
Two girls were filling out the
forms. The dark-haired one won
dered suspiciously why they wanted
participants’ home addresses when
the experiment was supposedly
safe.
One of the doctors soothed her
fears by explaining the study was
federally funded and every dollar
had to be accounted for.
Her blond companion com
mented, “I probably have the wrong
color of blood,” as the rubber strip
was tied around her arm.
Asking students why they were
“guinea pigs,” they answered,
“Why not?”
Money or the lack of it at the end
of a semester was another deciding
factor in submitting their bodies to
experimenters.
The “bedside manner” of the at
tending physicans and helpers was
relaxed and informal. The “guinea
pigs” joked among themselves and
with the doctors about the possible
results of the experiment.
One cadet said he would not be
surprised to find out that he had
signed away his body to science and
that they were now going to bump
him off with the vaccine to collect.
Dr. John Quarles from the
micro-biology department at Texas
A&M University said this study is
the largest of several university
studies. But the one at Texas A&M
will be the one referred to in later
studies. It can be compared to the
sort of commercials on television
where a study compares high school
students who use the fluoride
toothpaste.
“We are the Crest high school,”
Quarles joked. “Ten years from now
we ll look back and say we had fewer
cavities because of the vaccine.”
Some people in this University
might be praying for an influenza
epidemic so they can collect
additional bounties.
It seems rather ghoulish waiting
for flu season to come around to see
if the immunization will work. And
what happens if it doesn’t?
My first reaction to getting the
shot was to head over to the legal
adviser’s office to make out my last
will and testament because I was
sure I was the one in a million who
would have a bad reaction.
I have a slight headache and my
back feels miserable. It could be
from the vaccine, more likely it is
from hacking away at the typewriter
and studying. My only real pain was
peeling off the Band-Aid.
TRAVOLTA
DISCO SALE
LIGHTS FLASH IN THE
SMOKEY CLEAR HEEL
AND SOLE. COMES WITH
ELECTRICAL ADAPTER.
--.-K
Shalas
Your fashion shoe store
707 TEXAS
696-1148
CASH FOR
USED BOOKS
Ol’ Army Lou is paying
cash for your used books
right now.
USED BOOK HDQRS
LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORE
Northgate - Across from the Post Office
SIGN UP NOW
For The Russian Flu Study
The Russian Influenza Study needs 3,000student volunteers for the
2nd part of a flu vaccination program. Benefits include: A) Making be
tween $50-$70, B) Immunization against the Russian Flu at no cost, and
C) Special priority In the Health Center. Sign up and start the program
by going by: ' “
Monday & Tuesday
Health Center, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
MSC - 141, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Corps Lounge D, 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Thursday & Friday
Health Center, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Commons Lounge, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Common Lounge, 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.