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November 1, 1982
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Wonder dog’ still
alive after snakebite
United Press International
BROOKSHIRE — Veterina
rians worked throughout the
night Friday to save the life of
Arf the dog, who suffered a
poisonous snakebite while
shielding a 2-year-old boy from
a deadly North American coral
snake.
. "That dog saved my son’s
life," said owner Oksana Sparks,
33,aFulshear housewife. “I’ll do
anything I can to save his life.”
The Chesapeake Bay retriev
er was attacked Tuesday. He
went into a coma, but was
brought out of it with large anti-
venin injections. But the dog is
Still not out of danger.
"Right now, it’s looking real
good," veterinarian Dr. Ginan-
paCrouch said. “He’s got a good
chance, but if his kid
neys shut down on us, no matter
how good he’s looking now, he’s
going to die.
"We’ve still got several more
days of watching him and keep
ing the fluids going. Once we’re
over that crisis, we still have to
deal with the serum sickness.
“We’ve still got several more
days of watching him and keep
ing the fluids going. Once we’re
over that crisis, we still have tQ
deal with the serum sickness.
That could occur six days or
more after administration.
“There’ll be two or three of us
here all night. You don’t shut
down and walk away from a dog
like this,” Crouch said.
So far, the family has spent
$1,200 on antidotes for the
family pet.
Crouch estimated it could
cost $2,000 to save Arf's life, hut
"I doubt I’ll bill them for all of
that.”
Suddenly, the dog started run
ning around and began nudging
Eric away. Because of the dog’s
agitated state and previous ex
perience with the dog pointing
copperheads, she grabbed the
boy and ran to the house.
Mrs. Sparks grabbed a shot
gun, went outside and shot the
snake. But Arf had puncture
wounds on his nose and feet.
Mrs. Sparks took him to the
Brookshire Animal Clinic im
mediately. He went into a coma.
It took almost nine hours to
find antivenin for the bite and
Crouch said one expert she cal
led in Indiana told her the dog
had no chance of survival be
cause of the delay.
However, she gave him big
doses of the antivenin and he
came out of his coma.
Synthetic insulin OK’d
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Synth
etic human insulin manufac
tured by bacteria will go on
sale by the end of the year,
marking a major milestone in
the use of genetic engineering
technology in the treatment of
diabetes.
The Food and Drug Admi
nistration announced Friday
that it found the unique in
sulin safe and effective and
gave Eli Lilly & Co. approval
to begin selling it under the
brand name of Humulin.
Lilly spokesman Ronald
Culp in Indianapolis said the
company has sent letters and
mailgrams to 260,000 doctors
nationwide advising them of
the FDA approval. He said the
company plans a phased in
troduction within the next two
months.
Humulin is now being
manufactured in Indianapolis
and at Liverpool, England. It
was approved for use in the
United Kingdom last month.
Lilly estimates there are 5
million diabetics in the world,
and more than 1 million in the
United States, who require
daily insulin injections to help
their bodies deal with sugars
and starches in food.
Insulin for humans who
don’t make enough of the
hormone themselves is now
obtained from the pancreas of
pigs and cattle after they are
slaughtered. There is no shor
tage of animal glands to make
insulin today, but some spe
cialists believe one could de
velop in the next decade.
The genetic engineering
process can make unlimited
amounts of insulin identical to
that produced by the human
pancreas.
FDA spokeswoman Faye
Peterson said the synthetic
product, however, has not
been shown to have any ther
apeutic improvement over
animal insulin.
The cost of Humulin has
not yet been established. The
trade newspaper Genetic En
gineering News quoted Dr.
John A. Galloway, senior
pharmacologist at Lilly, as
saying Lilly’s initial price to
wholesalers probably will be
higher than the price of cur
rently available purified pork
insulin.
The approval of the synth
etic insulin came four years at
the City of Hope Medical Cen
ter, Duarte, Calif., and
Genentech Inc., in South San
Francisco. Scientists there
announced they had suc
ceeded in producing bacteria
that could manufacture in
sulin chemically identical to
that produced by the human
pancreas.
This is done by artificially
making the gene that carries
the code to make the hormone
and then inserting that gene
into the genetic material of
bacteria. As the bacteria re
produce, they make insulin.
President defends policies
Texas woman and pet pig
leave city jail; police relieved
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United Press International
WARREN, Ark. — Police
officers were relieved with the
release of a Texas woman and
her pet — a 70-pound pig
named Prissy — from the city
jail.
An unidentified Little Rock
man Friday paid Joanne Greer’s
J210 fine for her charge of driv-
ingwhile under the influence of
intoxicants, freeing the woman
and Prissy from city jail.
Before leaving however, the
Texas woman fed her pet and
gave the animal another bath.
Prissy attracted considerable
attention after being locked up
when her owner was arrested on
DVVI charges Oct. 23. Officials
transferred the pig to the jail af
ter it refused to eat while con
fined at the city animal pound.
Police fed Prissy apples and
cat food through the ordeal and
allowed Greer to bathe her on
occasion. The woman had own
ed the pig since it was about two
weeks old, officials said.
“That pig would follow her
around just like a dog,” said
police chief Tommy Dunaway.
“She is really the only mother —
or whatever you could call it —
the pig has ever known.”
Reagan hustles for
United Press International
WASH INGTON — President
Reagan isn’t making any predic
tions on next week’s congres
sional elections, many of which
have focused on his economic
program as a major campaign
issue.
Reagan, in a two-day, western
campaign swing for GOP candi
dates, repeatedly maintained his
program is working and head
ing the economy toward re
covery.
On the way home, however,
Reagan and his top aides de
clined to give any assessment on
the outcome of Tuesday’s elec
tions.
“Ain’t nobody going to give
figures,” deputy press secretary
Larry Speakes told reporters
aboard Air Force One en route
from Roswell, N.M.
“That’s just the way we are,”
he said. “We have consistently
refused to be drawn into the
numbers game.”
Reagan was asked by repor
ters about the elections as he
boarded Air Force One in Ros
well, but refused to reply.
The president spent the
weekend at the Camp David
E residential retreat in Mary-
ind. He made his regular radio
address on Saturday and was to
make campaign pitches on na
tional television Sunday and
today.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-
Mass., planned to give the
Democratic response to
Reagan’s radio address Satur
day and former Secretary of
GOP
State Edmund Muskie planned
to give a Democratic message on
national television Sunday.
Campaigning Thursday,
Reagan said Democratic charges
that he intends to cut Social
Security benefits or weaken the
system if he wins enough sup
port in Congress is a falsehood.
An aide said Reagan was the
only one with enough credibility
to bat down the Democrat’s So
cial Security charge.
“He delivered the message he
wanted to,” Speakes said.
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