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The Red and Black • Thursday, May 31, 1990 • S
Lyme disease could hamper summer fun
Top I ive Georgia Counties in Lyme Disease Cases
FULTON
DtKALB
WILKHS
RICHMOND
UPSON
University Council proposes resolutions
Semester versus quarter system debated
By SANDRA STEPHENS
Staff Writer
A single tick bite could ruin
summer plans of fun and free ac
tivities with Lyme disease.
Bill Letson, a medical officer
with the Center for Disease Con
trol in Atlanta, said Lyme dis
ease is caused by a corkscrew
shaped bacterium called Borrelia
burgdorferi or spirochete.
‘Humans can contract the dis
ease by being bitten by an in
fected tick," Letson said.
There aren’t any other estab
lished ways to the get the dis
ease, he said.
The tick that carries the spiro
chete in the Southeast is called
the “deer tick."
The deer tick is smaller than
the common American dog tick
and may be very difficult to see in
its nymph stage, which is its
most active stage.
The disease can be transferred
from one animal to another.
The disease can infect dogs
and cows but it hasn’t been estab
lished whether cats can contract
it.
Letson said symptoms for hu
mans include a red-like rash
which expands and clears in the
center, sneezing, headaches,
muscle aches and a sore throat.
The incubation period ranges
from four or five days to 30 days,
he said. The average is 10 to 14
days.
Half of untreated patients may
develop arthritis and about 5 per
cent may develop heart block
which is an abnormality of elec
trical impulses in the heart, he
said.
“About 15 percent may develop
neurological problems such as
numbness or a tingling sensation
in the arms and facial paralysis,”
he said.
The disease is treated with
high doses of tetracycline, an an
tibiotic.
No cases have been reported in
Clarke County this year.
Dr. Dan Pate of the Athens
Veterinary Clinic said animals
show symptoms of a red-like rash
and depression.
Pate said a blood test which
costs about $20 can detect Lyme
disease. Antibiotics are adminis
tered for about two weeks to treat
it.
Letson said some animals be
come sick from the tick bite, but
don’t develop the disease.
Victor Nettles, University pro
fessor of parasitology and di
rector of the Southeastern
Cooperative Wildlife Disease
Study, said they are trying to de
termine where the disease is in
the Southeast by testing serum
from the deer serum bank.
Nettles said by examining the
serum of a deer killed in 1964 in
20 30 40. 50
Davis O'Keeffe /The Red & Black
Waycross, “we can see if Lyme
disease was present."
Most of the information known
about the disease is based on re
search from Northeastern United
States.
“We’re not sure if everything
applies to the Southeast," Nettles
said.
‘There are really no docu
mented cases of Lyme-diseased
caused deaths,” he said.
Letson said more than 90 per
cent of the cases are reported in
Minnesota, Wisconsin and
Eastern seaboard states such as
New York, Pennsylvania, and
Connecticut.
The disease is more easily con
tracted in the late spring and
summmer. May through Sep
tember are the peak months.
Letson said using repellants,
wearing long-sleeved and light-
colored shirts, long pants and
pulling the Bocks up around the
ankles and checking clothing for
ticks are ways to avoid tick bites.
Pet owners should use a spray
on their pets and the areas where
the pet stays and use tweezers or
latex gloves to remove ticks from
the animal, Pate said.
By J.D. SQUILLANTE
Staff Writer
The University Council could
initiate a major change in Univer
sity policy today when it votes on
the heavily-debated semester con
version resolution.
If passed, the resolution will re
quest that University President
Charles Knapp seek the University
System Board of Regents’ approval
to implement a semester calendar
at the University.
The council held a special
meeting last week to discuss con
version. At that meeting provisions
were added to the resolution by the
Educational Affairs Committee.
The provisions defined the se
mester system as 14 weeks of in
struction and an examination
period, clarified summer term com
pensation and workloads for fac
ulty and specified curriculum
policies.
The provision also called for a
study ot faculty workloads should a
semester implementation occur.
The maximum number of
courses a teacher would be ex
pected to teach under a new system
has been the primary concern of
faculty. The original proposal set
the maximim number at six, but
most semester institutions only re
quire four a year.
The study would compare the
two systems and report results to
Knapp for consideration.
Other resolutions up for council
action are:
• A resolution that would give
teachers the option to supplement
final grades with pluses, but not
The provisions defined
the semester system
as 14 weeks of
instruction and an
examination period and
specified curriculum
policies.
minuses. A plus would count as an
additional 0.5 on a student’s grade
report.
The plus system will give stu
dent an incentive to work a little
harder, said Educational Affairs
Committee Chair States McCarter.
The measure would require re
gents approval before it could be
implemented at the University.
• A resolution sponsored by the
Committee on Intercollegiate Ath
letics would request that Knapp
submit a proposal to the National
Collegiate Athletic Association,
which has the potential to reduce
the number of athletic scholarships
an institution can grant to in
coming freshmen.
The number of scholarships
would be contingent upon the grad
uation rates of student athletes.
• A resolution proposed by the
Committee on Facilities would ask
that Knapp request the return of
Iron Horse, a 12-foot sculpture that
was moved ofT campus in 1954,
after protest and abuse from stu
dents. The sculpture stands in a
com field off Highway 78, about
halfway between Athens and
Greensboro.
• Another Committee on Facili
ties proposal up for action would
rohibit smoking in all University
uildings, except selected smoking
areas that would be designated by
the highest-ranking administra
tors of a building after getting
input from occupants of the
building.
• A policy proposed by the Fac
ulty Affairs Committee would spe
cifically state the definition of
scientific misconduct so that re
search procedures at the Univer
sity would comply with National
Institute of Health requirements.
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State officials warn residents about asbestos in homes
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — State and federal
officials are cautioning Georgia
residents to be aware that private
homes have been relatively ignored
in the decade-long furor over
cancer-causing asbestos fibers.
“It’s not something that they
need to lose sleep over. It’s some
thing they should be aware of,”
said Alan Powell, the U.S. Envi
ronmental Protection Agency’s as
bestos coordinator for the eight-
state Southeast region.
“Hopefully the majority of as
bestos in homes is in good shape,
and if that is the case, it’s not that
*reat of a problem for people to be
doing something about,” Powell
said.
Asbestos has been linked to lung
and stomach cancer.
Most asbestos in homes is not
hazardous because it’s locked
safely in building materials. But
the chemical becomes dangerous
when the materials deteriorate, re
leasing fibers into the air, he said.
Rafe Banks of Cumming lost his
home because of it.
“I learned my lesson the hard
way,” Banks said Tuesday, three
days after moving into a new home.
He fled the house he bought in
1978 after contractors mistakenly
sanded vinyl flooring in the
kitchen, allowing asbestos fibers in
the flooring to escape and spread
throughout the home.
The contractor’s insurance com
pany bought the house and spent
more than $40,000 for the cleanup.
No level of asbestos in the
human body is considered safe,
according to the EPA.
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UNIVERSITY.
THE RED & BLACK: THE RIGHT PLACE TO START.
Taking applications now for summer & fall quarters.
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Bring This Coupon For
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