Thursday, February 19, 1987AThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
lesearcher: fear of AIDS worse than disease
By Amy Couvillon
Staff Writer
■ The fear of AIDS in American so-
Ninety can cause as many problems as
AIDS itself, a research scientist said
Wednesday.
HDr. Susan McCombie, an anthro
pologist with the Health Department
in Arizona, spoke at a program
l sponsored by the Texas A&M an
thropology department. She said
JHat knowing the public’s percep-
Bms is important in the control of
infectious diseases.
^■“AIDS is a frightening epidemic,”
!^He said, “not only because of the
{fHsease itself, but because of what
l^he fear of AIDS can do."
|Americans tend to harbor myths
jut infectious diseases, McCombie
d, such as believing a disease al-
^Bys comes from “somewhere else.”
■“There is often a tendency in
Western culture,” she said, “to blame
''■Kease on some outside group that
iadefined by race, ethnicity, nation
ality or religion.
■“For example, in the 15th cen
tury, syphilis was called the ‘French
^ disease’by the Italians, Germans and
. English, the ‘Italian disease’ by the
P J French, the ‘Portugese disease’ by
Ve Japanese and the ‘German dis
ease by the Polish.”
■ People historically have had a ten
dency to attach stigmas to disease
ab"
said
> Photo by M.E. Kersten
Dr. Susan McCombie, an anthropology professor from the Univer
sity of Arizona, answers a question after her presentation on AIDS.
and to the individuals who have the
disease, she said, and irrational fear
and incorrect information can make
the problem worse.
“During the Black Death epide
mic in the middle ages, people often
panicked, and their emotions
clouded their judgment,” McCombie
said. “Many steps taken to stop the
disease did more to spread it.
“For instance, at one point, people
thought that dogs and cats were
spreading the disease. They began
to kill off the animals, which turned
out to be the natural enemies of the
rats that were actually spreading it.”
Some of the responses to AI13S in
the last five years also have been
counter-productive, McCombie said,
and have done nothing to stop the
disease’s spread. She said an exam
ple of such an error is the unrealistic
belief that “nice people” don’t get
sexually transmitted diseases.
“If you try and convince people to
take precautions like using con
doms,” she said, “they say things
like, T don’t have to worry about
that, I only have sex with clean peo
ple.’ But once you’re infected with it,
cleanliness has little to do with it.”
McCombie said the public tends to
view a disease as more contagious
than it actually is.
“Some people have become par
anoid,” she said. “I’ve gotten calls at
the Health Center from people
asking whether it’s OK to wash their
clothes in a public laudromat, be
cause someone with AIDS might
have washed there before.”
McCombie said the mass media
sometimes sensationalizes AIDS.
“I often get phone calls from the
press,” she said, “looking for some
new figure with which to frighten
people.”
This kind of coverage can fuel the
public’s irrational fears that AIDS is
a mysterious “super-virus” about
which little is known. This image is
incorrect, McCombie said.
“With AIDS, we have identified
the retrovirus that causes it, and we
know how it’s transmitted,” she said.
“Isolation and quarantining of sick
individuals only give people a false
sense of security that the human en
vironment is disease-free. Every one
of us carries a virus that could make
someone else sick.”
Fear of AIDS, she said, involves
more than the fear of dying. People
say they would rather be infected
with rabies than with AIDS, she said.
“A rabies infection will cause
death within 10 days,” she said. “But
if you’re infected with the AIDS vi
rus, you won’t get sick for two years
or longer — maybe never.
“There are other examples of
where our cultural response to a dis
ease was disproportionate to the ac
tual mortality,” McCombie said.
“Take head lice and measles, for
example,” she said. “Measles can
cause pneumonia or even death. At
the very least, you’ll be very, very
sick for a week. No one ever died
from head lice, and the worst thing
you’ll get is a little itching. But, in
credibly, people would rather have
measles than head lice.”
18/g challenge for new skydivers is getting out of plane
V
By Tracy Staton
Reporter
HAs the plane taxied away from its berth, the
tigers solemnly waved goodbye. The
rJ first time skydivers watched the ground anx
iously as the cramped plane lifted roughly off
the grass runway. In the eerie quiet, the be
ginners seemed to wonder when they would
El reach the correct altitude and if their par
achutes would open.
jl^HFinally, the jumpmaster unlatched the
■Id: door of the plane. The first jumper swung his
feet outside, knowing that his body soon
would follow.
'“■The fear these skydiving students experi
enced is common, said Steve Haskett, owner
of the “drop zone” and skydiving school at
Coulter Field in Bryan. Haskett added that
first-time jumpers usually worry that their
parachute will not open.
“The challenge to the student on the first
jump is just getting out of the plane,” he said.
Meeting the challenge is an experience that
defies description, he said. In addition, Has
kett requires each student to describe his
three-minute trip through the atmosphere in
a “jump story.” These stories are told at the
end of each day after every person has made
ajump.
“The only difference between ajump story
and a fairy tale,” Haskett said, “is that fairy
tales begin with ‘once upon a time’ and jump
stories start out with ‘No s there I was,
thought I was going to die.’ ”
Students who took the first-jump course at
“Aggies over Texas” Saturday had to wait al
most all day to hear only three jump stories.
Weather conditions were bad for skydiving —
winds were 15-20 mph and the cloud ceiling
was only at 2,000 feet for most of the day.
The ceiling must be at least 3,000 feet for stu
dents to jump, and the maximum allowable
wind speed is 12-15 mph.
When the ceiling had risen to its minimum
level, three students were fitted with gear.
Mike Nahas, Mike Sullivan and Karl Pal-
Imeyer donned goggles, helmets and par
achute harnesses, and then climbed into the
plane. Haskett was their jumpmaster, a li
censed skydiver who directs the students.
Although Sullivan and Pallmeyer landed
way off target in a wooded area across the
highway from the airport, all three students
returned to the hangar safely. The other stu-
dents, who weren’t able to jump because of
the weather, and their instructors gathered
around to hear about thejump experiences.
Nahas, a junior modern language major,
landed right beside the hangar, only a few
feet in front of the plane. He had jumped be
fore, but had used a different type of par
achute.
“The time I jumped before, I used military
equipment,” Nahas said. “This square par
achute was a lot different.”
Haskett said skydiving as a sport grew out
of the military. But as the sport grew, skydiv
ers wanted lighter and more maneuverable
gear. Now the jumping is completely differ
ent.
When Haskett first started jumping about
See Skydive, page 11
In Advance
i
Sorority
to sponsor
12th Playday
By Melanie Perkins
Staff Writer
In a continuing effort to raise
money for charity, have fun, and
provide physical competition for
fraternities, Alpha Delta Pi, a so
rority, is sponsoring its 12th an
nual Playday Feb. 16-21.
Playday is a week-long event in
which fraternities try to show
their spirit and athletic abilities.
Twenty of the 21 Interfraternity
Council-recognized fraternities
will participate, says Gina Gucci,
Alpha Delta Pi Playday chairman.
Although the spirit competi
tion and volleyball tournament
continue throughout the week,
the main activities will be Friday
and Saturday.
The volleyball semi-finals and
finals will be at 2 p.m. Friday at
Lincoln Center, 1000 Eleanor St.,
in College Station. Fraternites will
participate in a scavenger hunt —
scouring the Bryan-College Sta
tion area for items such as live
goldfish and kazoos — as part of
the spirit competition Friday
night.
The games will begin at 11 a.m.
Saturday at Bryan Utilities Lake
Park, and will include a relay
race, an apple-bobbing relay and
a tug-of-war.
After the games, the Red Ban
dana restaurant will provide beef
and chicken fajitas (all-you-can-
eat for $6).
Tickets for the fajita dinner are
available from Alpha Delta Pi
members.
The Music Doctors will per
form and winners will be an
nounced during dinner.
It’s all in the spirit of fun, Gucci
says, and the money raised goes
to the Ronald McDonald Houses
for families of critically ill chil
dren.
The sorority expects to raise
$1,500 through the sale of sweat
shirts and fajitas, she says.
STUDENT
GOVERNMENT
TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY
We’re Working For You!
Executive Branch Update
COSGA
Traditions
* Chairman: Lorrie Brown
* COSGA is Feb. 21-24.
* This is the First year that delegates from other coun
tries are attending. The delegates are from England
and Canada.
* Keynote Speakers are:
Dan Clark - Professional speaker
Denis Pruit - VP Student Affairs,
Univ. of South Carolina
Big Event
jert
* Chairman: Charla Carter
* Big Event is March 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
* Committee still taking applications from student
groups.
*
Big Event Bash is Feb, 28 at the Grove
Public Relations
* Chairman: Jody Kay Manley
* Post notices on student government information
boards in MSC, Commons, Library, Zachery and
Academic Building.
* Providing student senate updates for information
boards.
* Finished student government brochure.
* Chairman: Louis Meneghetti
* Repairing the eternal flame at the entrance to Kyle
Field.
* Repairing and cleaning the plagues on the 54 Oak
trees that honor aggies who died in WWI.
* Getting A&M commercials ready for the air.
* Promoting a ‘New’ Aggie Tradition; “Mardi Gras.”
* Will present Traditions programs for COSGA and
Parents Weekend
* Working against the Senior Finals proposal which
would destroy some important Aggie Traditions.
Student Services
* Chairman: Jose Castro
* Studying an issurance policy for Graduate students.
* Updating weight room
* Trying to provide more parking space by Duncan.
* Looking into early grades requests.
* Improve ticket distribution.
United Way
* Chairman: Zane Russell
* Committee org?nizing a football game between the
Corps of Cadets and the Kappa Alpha fraternity at
Kyle Field. The Corps will be playing for the
United Way and Kappa Alpha will play for MDA.
It will be a full contact game.
* Committee is also sponsoring the Corps Elephant
Bowl football game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April
11. This game will feature the Air Force and Aggie
Band vs. the Army and Regiment. All proceeds
will benefit the United Way.
Parents’ Weekend
* Chairman: Renee Dix
* Parents’ Weekend is April 10-12.
* Organizations need to turn in request forms for
master schedule by Feb. 27.
Muster
Blood Drive
* Chairman: Margie Boswell
* The Wadley Blood Drive is March 2-5.
* Locations are at the Pavillion, Commons, SB ISA,
and MSC.
* Chairman: Wendy Wayne
* Muster is April 21.
* Committee has chosen speaker for campus
Muster.
* This ad is sponsored by the Public Relations Committee
❖