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Page 6AThe Battalion/Thursday, February 4, 1988
A&M health center pays patients
to participate in study of flu virus
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By Tom Cawthra
Reporter
Flu season is in full swing at Texas
A&M, and the A.P. Beutel Health
Center is paying qualified patients
$185 to participate in a study con
ducted by A&M and the Baylor Col
lege of Medicine.
Dr. John Quarles, A&M virolog
ist, said although flu viruses have
been treated since the 1940s with an
tibiotics and penicillin, this study,
designed to determine the effects of
an aerosolized form of rimantadine,
a drug used in the treatment of
acute influenza, is unique.
“The thing this study is doing
that’s a little bit different (from
other flu studies at the health center)
is that we administer the drug to the
patient as a small particle aerosol
through a small mask placed over
the patients’ faces,” he said.
Quarles said an aerosol form of
the drug is used so the drug quickly
sets in where the virus starts.
“You breathe in flu viruses and
they begin replicating in the mucus
membranes in your nose and
throat,” he said.
“If you take a drug as a pill,”
Quarles explained, “there is some
amount of time that it takes before
the drug dissolves in your stomach
and is taken into your bloodstream
and to other parts of your body. So
the idea behind an aerosol applica
tion is that it gets the drug to the vi
rus immediately.”
He said another advantage of the
aerosol form of rimantadine is that a
much lower concentration of the
drug is used by avoiding the bloods
tream.
Participants in the study are* se
lected from health center patients
who have contacted the flu within
the 24-hour period prior to their
visit to the center.
Quarles said seven patients have
been admitted to the program this
semester, six of whom are members
of the Corps of Cadets. He said he
hopes that will increase to about 40
by spring break, when traditionally
the number of flu cases reported to
the health center drops dramatically
for the semester.
Patient eligibility includes a man
datory three full-day minimum un
der health center observation. If pa
tients are admitted and miss classes
as a result, Quarles said they are offi
cially excused from those classes by
the University.
“In the long run, the students
would be better off staying away
from class, anyway,” Quarles said.
“If people think they have the flu,
they should get out of public circula
tion.”
Brian Weir, a sophomore second
ary education major and member of
the Aggie Band, said he checked
into the center Monday with a tem
perature near 103 degrees.
He said he volunteered to partici
pate in the program because his
physical condition made it impossi
ble to participate in the Corps’ daily
activities.
“I would have stayed in bed any
way,” Weir said. “Why not have
someone who knows what they’re
doing take care of me?
“My fever’s down to normal. I’m
feeling 100 percent better.”
Another patient, Ronnie Kirby, a
sophomore general studies major
and Corps member living next door
to Weir, realized he had the viral in
fection when he reported for early
morning inspection.
“We (the Corps members) got up
Photo by ShellySd'
Ronnie Kirby, left, and Paul Normenn breath a specially medicated mist through a mask.
one morning and went out into the
hall for inspection,” he said. “We
(Kirby and Weir) kept sweating. We
couldn’t stand up we were so weak.”
Dr. Robert At mar, Class of ‘78,
monitors the patients at the center.
He said potential patients are
screened at the center for all or some
of the following flu symptoms con-
treatment which involves meals and
necessary breaks,” said Atmar.
On the second day the patients
are put on a routine schedule, he ex
plained. They breathe the aerosol
through an oxygen-type face mask
for three 4-hour periods in the
morning, afternoon and evening.
The tests are scheduled during the
Eligible patients must sign a
formed consent form pnortoai
“The thing this study is doing that’s a little bit different
(from other flu studies at the health center) is that we
administer the drug to the patient as a small particle
aerosol through a small mask placed over the patients'
faces.” i
— Dr. John Quarles, A&M virologist
sion to the study. Theyarewi
that the rimantadine aerosols
cause nasal irritation or mildute
ing, and it is possible that otkt
more serious side effects of them
ment may occur.
According to Atmar, a lot oil
research on the aerosol thtu
form of the drug was pioneered
A&M through the BaylorColleJ
Medicine.
“The two groups have worked i
gether in the past with a difltre
drug called ribovine and haveste*
that it w.i.s ef let live when delra HUNT
by aerosol,” he said
onths aft
! should
Her Cl;
tacted within 24 hours prior to the
screening:
• muscle aches
• runny nose
• sore throat
• dry cough
• headache
• photophobia
from bright light)
• 101 degree
higher
• weakness
• loss of appetite
(eye irritation
temperature or
He said if those who are entitled
to health center treatment feel they
have these symptoms and want to
participate in the study, they should
see a physician at the center as
quickly as possible.
“Once the patients are enrolled in
the study, it’s basically three days in
the health center because the aerosol
treatment requires a twelve-hour
second and third days of hospitaliza
tion.
Atmar said the patients do not
have to wear the mask at night.
“The mask is fairly comfortable,”
he said. “But it does restrict your
movement to the bed, and you can’t
sleep on your stomach.”
Atmar said rimantadine is man
ufactured in pill form, but it has not
been approved for use in the United
States.
He explained that the aerosol ex
periment eliminates side effects of
the drug’s oral form such as dizzi
ness, lack of concentration, insomnia
and nervousness caused by extended
consumption.
“This happens to those people
who have taken it to prevent getting
the flu as opposed to treatment for
the flu,” he said. “All those symp
toms went away when the medica
tion was discontinued.”
A&M and Baylor researchJ
sonnel worked together usingaFdnesda
chine pioneered to conduct wjroains or
influenza studies at A&M. v } have fait
said. B ts kin
He said A&M researchers at Ou have t
first to study the aerosolizedn f legal
tadine in the treatment of parpndley s
who have acquired acute inili tote a ju
without being injected with arti tended to
forms of the virus. ®he grant
In the present experiment,'ffiiandle
and medicine levels are detecteejan, was c
studied in the patients’ blood ell Cher)
pies, Atmar said. iu g 23,
David Curington, a soptior®ol, wh
Corps member majoring in psvd#-
ogy, said the hospital staff haslep
taking blood samples from
his 1 1 p.m. arrival Tuesday
“They take blood about evervpl
hours,” he said. “When Igotin
about eleven, they took fount
one, they woke me up andtod
vile. At three o’clock, they tool)
vile, and then at seven, at noon,
two.” Dall. A
fiation
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