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'