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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1987)
Page 2B/The Battalion/Wednesday, August 26, 1987 Baron Frankenstein's creation is one of five electri fying, mesmerizing, tantalizing Broadway perfor mances in the all new Theatre Series of MSC OPAS. Five blockbuster Broadway performances including "Frankenstein ", "Cats", "Beehive", "Singin' in the Rain", and the world's greatest mime, Marcel Marceau — ail for one shockingly low season ticket price. OPAS 15 also offers the Music Series of brilliant in ternational performers. Eight of the music world's brightest lights, from the Rotterdam Philharmonic to Canadian Brass to Tokyo String Quartet to Good OF Gershwin. OPAS 15 gives you a world of electrifying choices: Music or Theatre or both —at savings up to 40% off single ticket prices. Thirteen nights of great enter tainment in Texas A&M's Rudder Auditorium. This year join us for the memories. Stay for the fun —OPAS 15. We ll even let you charge it. The Theatre Series: "Beehive" September 30, 1987 "Joyful, top notch entertainment; It had the audience screaming with Joy."—ABC-TV "Singin' in the Rain" riouember 17, 1987 "the production boasts every Ingredient...lots of lively and energetic hoofing, brightly talented young cast...a handsome production and a genuine on stage deluge for the famous title song.-HOUSTOM CHROPIICLE Marcel Marceau February 24. 1988 "Me Is simply superb...the best thing that ever happened to s//ence.'—CHICAGO "Frankenstein" March 30. 1988 "Bravo..."—LOS ANGELES TIMES "Cats" Date to be announced "...audiences of all ages have marveled at Its furry flurry of cat people dancing and singing amid huge tires, trash cans, an old stove, an abandoned car and strings of Christmas //ghts. —THE ATLANTA JOURNAL The Music Series: Nikolais Dance Theater September 22, 1987 "...one of the most extraordinary theatrical wonders of the age.'—THE WASHINGTON POST Rotterdam Philharmonic, James Contort, conductor with Bella Davidovich, pianist October 13, 1987 "The orchestra...digs In and plays with an almost aggressive enthusiasm and visible pride in its work..."—TUT. BOSTON GLOBE Mel Forme' Leslie Uggams. Peter Nero starring in "The Great Gershwin" Piovember 10, 1987 "...and then, of course, came Gershwin, with whom Peter Hero seems to have a special affinity that comes as a birthright."—TML TOLEDO BLADE The Canadian Brass "Christmas with The Canadian Brass" December 1. 1987 "One of the world's great ensembles."—THE WASHINGTON POST. Tokyo String Quartet January 28, 1988 "The Tbkyo String Quartet belongs to the handful of ensembles that are the best of their kind..."— BERLINER MORGENPOST, Berlin Christopher Parkening, Guitarist February 15. 1988 "Brilliant! Me proved that neither his reputation nor his records are deceptive. The audience cheered him lustily."—THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band March 6, 1988 "exceptional In Its sparkling articulation...A superior evening of entertainment!"— ENTERPRISE, High Point, North Carolina Music From Marlboro April 15, 1988 "You may be unfamiliar with these names, but the Music from Marlboro trademark is a virtual guarantee of musical excellence."—THE WASHINGTON STAR Only your season ticket to OPAS 15 guarantees you seats to these magical pefor- mances. Order yours today! Two convenient ways to order your tickets: 1. Order by phone, 845-1234. Charge to VISA or MasterCard, OR 2. Bequest an order form from the MSC Box Office. Music Scries Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Regular $95.00 $76.00 $61.00 Student $81.00 $65.00 $55.00' •Special two-for-one discount available for Texas A&M : students. For a limited time. Texas A&M students may buy two Zone 3 MSC OPAS season tickets (Music Series only) for the price of one. Sorry, two-for-one orders accepted in person with fee slip at the MSC Box Office only. Theatre Series Zone I Zone 2 Zone 3 Regular $103.00 $ 85.00 $ 63.00 Student $ 90.00 $ 75.00 $ 57.00 Combined Series Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Regular $188.00 $153.00 $119.00 Student $154.00 $130.00 $100.00 Programs and performance dates subject to change without notice. We regret there will be no exchanges or refunds. MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society Memorial Student Center • Texas AflrM Universit> • Box J l • College Station TX 77844 9081 attalion lassified 845-2611 A&M researchers seek tropical disease cure By Greg Sellers Reporter Researchers at Texas A&M currently are searching for a cure to a tropical disease that has infected 300 mil lion people. All of those infected with the disease, which is caused by a blood fluke organism called schistosoma mansoni, live on or near the equator. The parasite may live in vic tims’ circulatory systems for decades before killing them, says Dr. Walter Kemp, head of the biology de partment at A&M. Kemp says snails carry the parasites, which are trans ferred to the waters on or near the equator. Humans then are infected with the worms, which penetrate the skin while in the water. “Our primary interest with this research is how the worms escape humans’ immune response,” Kemp says. “They (worms) circumvent the immune response- and use it to their advantage.” Kemp has been conducting research on the schisto soma mansoni for 20 years; he started as a graduate stu dent at Tulane University in New Orleans. Brazil’s ever-expanding agriculture hasincreast spread of the disease because the snails infafilJ try’s water supply, he says. He says he’s collabe with of ficials in Brazil to find a cure forthedise* takes 10 to 20 years off a person’s lifespan. Most of the funding for the research comesfri; U.S. government, with about 75 percentcomiii[ the National Institute of Health since 1975,Kenif: He says he receives about $250,000 per year. “It’s a very competitive situation (trying to: grants),” Kemp says. “Our work is evaluatedbyoE, in Washington at the NIH, which is calledapt* view.” Kemp says he chaired the review board fortw and was on the panel for four years. The peer- process ensures the research is being doneataae; levels and thus far, A&M’s researchers havebetii; top of the nation’s research, he says. “This (research) is as good or better thananyt the nation,” Kemp says. A&M must competeir searchers f rom Harvard, Vanderbilt andtheUni, : of Georgia for funding. And so far, it’s receive: grants in the past one and a half years. Experts urge owners to tred pets, homes for flea 'plague By Craig Eichhorn Reporter If it seems like your pet is digging and scratching due to flea bites more than ever this summer, your pet is not alone. That’s because it is a bad summer for fleas. But this flea plague is be cause of a mild winter, says Dr. Flo- ron Faries, project supervisor for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Normally the winter is cold enough to slow down the adult fleas so they don’t lay as many eggs, he says. Last winter wasn’t cold enough and as a result, more eggs than nor mal were laid, he says. Eggs hatch slowly in the winter, if at all. The larvae and pupae stages may not ever hatch in a severely cold winter, he says. This winter was more of a hibernation for the eggs and larvae, he says. Fleas need moisture and humidity to survive and the great amount of rain during the spring aided the eggs in hatching, Faries says. The rain and moderate temperatures of the early summer helped create ideal conditions for the flea life cy cle. The flea life cycle consists of four stages, Faries says. The first stage is the egg stage, in which the immature flea remains about one week. Next comes the lar vae stage, in which it remains for one to two weeks.The larvae are worm like and feed on organic matter, dirt, pet dandruff, hair and even the feces of adult fleas. The third stage is the pupae, or cocoon, stage, which usually lasts about a week. Through metamor phosis, an adult flea hops out and begins the fourth stage of the flea cy cle. The process from egg to adult flea takes three to four weeks, Faries says. Most of the stages occur in the environment of the host, or pet, not on the host. Adult fleas can live months with out having a meal — the blood of a pet or human, he says. The fleas that do have regular blood meals can live years. Dr. Clifford Hoelscher, an ento mologist at Texas A&M, says “That’s why one may enter a house, an apartment or a barn that has been vacant for over a year and the place is still crawling with fleas. They can survive without a host that long.” Contrary to popular belief, fleas aren’t constantly hopping around. Fleas, like mosquitos, need carbon dioxide for movement, Faries says. If there isn’t enough carbon dioxide in the environment the fleas remain relatively still, he says. When a dog or cat lies on the car pet or floor and exhales carbon di oxide, the fleas hop to the pet be cause of their attraction to carbon dioxide, he says. People who sit in a flea-infested area will attract fleas because they also exhale carbon dioxide, he says. Fleas prefer to feed on dog or cat blood, but they’ll feed on human blood if hungry enough, he says. Hoelscher says some people are more attractive to fleas than others. This is similar to mosquitos, which prefer one person’s blood over an other’s, he says. Once the adult flea has received enough carbon dioxide to move around and jump on the pet, it looks for places to feed, Faries says. The adult fleas also look for a mate and may breed on the pet, he says. The female flea will leave the host to lay eggs in the environment, he says.A single female adult flea is ca pable of laying hundreds of eggs in her lifetime. Just because a pet owner sees five to 10 fleas on a pet doesn’t mean there are just five to 10 fleas in the environment, he says. There may be as many as 1,000 fleas in the environment, he says. Ending the flea problem inside the house is much more difficult than simply setting off a fogger and leaving for a while, Hoelscher says. Foggers are expensive and don’t work as well as direct sprays in con trolling the flea population, he says. “It’s easier to use a fogger,” he says. “That’s why they are so popu lar.” Hoelscher and Faries agree that the whole house should be sprayed for fleas, not just part of the house or part of one room. Hoelscher says flea-pestered pet owners should spray underneath “The problem with most homeowners and the flea problem is that they want to put an insecticide on one time and hope to get rid of the problem. That is not possible. ” — Dr. Clifford Hoelscher, entomologist couches, chairs and other furniture to get the insecticide to the fleas. Because fleas don’t crawl around and come to the insecticide the way cockroaches do, Faries says home- owners must get the insecticide to the fleas for it to be effective. Hoelscher says, “The general public doesn’t realize that you have to get the material to the flea. These materials work on contact and if a pet owner doesn’t spray underneath objects, or in the back of closets or corners of a room, they won’t kill the fleas that are there. It’s that simple.” Hoelscher recommends using in secticides containing Dursban, Diazi- non or Safrotin to kill adult fleas in side the house, but these chemicals do not affect the egg, larvae or co coon stages of the flea. Dursban and Diazinon are effec tive in killing adult fleas outside the house as well, he says. Although there are other chemi cals that are just as effective, these three are more readily available to the public, he says. The others are used by professional exterminators. Precor is a chemical used in insec ticides to kill eggs and developing larvae, Hoelscher says. Precor is an insect growth regulator and now is available in combinations with the chemicals effective in killing adult fleas. Hoelscher says ready-to-use insec ticides should be used instead of those that require the owner to mix a certain chemical with water. Members of the general public aren’t very successful with mixes be cause they don’t follow the instruc tions and wind up not mixing it right, he says. Ready-to-use insecti cides contain the correct dosage and don’t damage household objects. The insecticides mixed with water may spot or stain furniture, carpet, upholstery and wallpaper, he says. “Read and follow the label direc tions if you are doing self-treat ment,” he says. “The companies spend thousands of dollars devel oping these labels, which give direc tions for use, how much insecticide to use and how often to use it.” Re-application of insecticide is a must to control the flea population. The residue from the insecticide may last up to one week, Hoelscher says. But, with new eggs hatching ev ery seven days or so, the insecticide wears off and leaves fleas unharmed in the environment. “The problem with most home- owners and the flea problem is that they want to put an insecticide on one time and nope to get rid of the problem,” Hoelscher says. “That is not possible.” Most people with flea problems fail to monitor re-infestation, he says. A simple way to monitor this is to drag a piece of white paper across the room, or lay it down where the pet normally lays. If fleas are seen jumping on the paper, there is a flea problem, he says. When people feel fleas biting them, it means a lot of fleas are in the house, Hoelscher says. This is People who don’t wanticjj with insecticide themselves si hire a professional extermiiuJ says. Hiring a pest-control opev. preferable for some people they don’t have to buyinsectio; worry about poisoning their* their kids or a pet, Hoelschers Faries says, “It is highly mended to have a professi terminator because they dosages, concentrations at: danger and safety hazardsof Jp cide.” I he exterminator has top where pets have been and I they sleep to know where tki are, he says. The extermir.; well as the homeowner, should insecticide on a regular says. Outside the house, theii needs to be applied in busha porch, in and around thedt and in shaded areas, he says 1 ioelscher says practical must be taken along with application to avoid re-infem; General cleaning is mandaio: says. Vacuuming carpets and ping floors cuts downontht her of breeding sights forth he says. Faries says because fleasnt&that hold midity and moisture, dry ts ;said. help kill all four stages oftk ‘ Althoc l** e - - “atom sr Vacuuming provides heal, thecyclot the vacuum doesn’t suck uoi nuclei of Most < that it e: hat it is, But a ron Inst new Eng on camp machine smashes; It is u over ho orks an [does, saic Irector of We tr adult fleas, larvae, eggs and: —nearly many of them will still belt then “sm the heat emitted from then Severa he says. stream, c After vacuuming, the baj* ’ get, he sa be thrown away, Hoelschersa« foil of n the vacuum cleaner shouldnii ; thing f ro standing, which allows fleai As this cape and re-enter the enviroc 1 tides pas Ultraviolet rays of the sunt casionalh the early stages of fleas, FacciJ an atom Opening the curtains and lee ‘ cle hits it sun’s rays in helps kill them,# — thus tl Hoelscher says after theft A new under control, a twice-ayer ing built ing program should beusedi about the fleas from re-infesting lit advantay ronment. The cleaning also will help the environ®: free of house spiders ant roaches. Treating pets is another tant measure in flea co® should be done at the same the treatment of the insider side of the house, Hoelschery oungblt For ex ill be a uch fa: aid. “Now ' a uraniu the prese do that,” The best chemical to treaif Also, with is Paramite, a liquidmiif' new cycle water and used as a dip, hesi Young Dr. Michael Sarver of: says it is essential to get i head wet during dipping, not done propeny andthel wet, all the fleas on the per to the head. To avoid chemical irritatic ? pet’s eyes, Hoelscher suggf* ^ ting a drop of mineral op | corner of each eye. Other forms of flea cof | pets include dusts, spraysaci®' shampoos, Faries says. A spot insecticide isappfc skin of the pet. The insect^ sorbed by the bloodstrearr fleas bite and suck blood, tk cide will kill them, he says. A tablet that is taken orat| pet also absorbs insecticide 1 bloodstream and has thesal : as the spot insecticide, hesafi “It’s surprising how owners like the tablets bee® are so easy to use,” he sa) 5 owners don’t have to 1 cide, like spraying or du they don’t have to bathe or pet.” One drawback of thespoi cides and tablets is they won the fleas suck enough blor the host, Faries says. fleas are on the host and suck any blood, or will 1 enough to kill them. But by giving too much 5 to the pet, one reduces tk ness of the environment 1 fleas live, he says. Winning! against fleas involves treat 1 the environment and thept'