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Thursday, November 2. 1989 / University Daily Kansar
Med Center treats maternal drug use
Drug-related seizures increasing problem
By Melanie Matthes
Kansan staff writer
Drug use among emergency room and maternity patients is a growing concern at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Med Center officials said.
"There has been a marked increase in the last two years of patients coming in with drug related adverse reactions." Jr. director of emergency services.
He said emergency room officials had seen an increase in the number of heart attacks and seizures result from the use of crack and cocaine.
About four patients under the age of 30 have come to the Med Center emergency room with drug-related heart attacks in the last two years, Prosser said. Although a heart attack resulting from crack or cocaine use can be fatal, none of the Med Center patients died.
Prosser said that he could not document the number of patients who had come to the emergency room with seizures resulting from drug use but that he thought there was a fair number of these patients.
A patient with a drug-related seizure experiences symptoms similar to an epileptic seizure, he said, but the patient does not respond to medication that is usually given to epileptics. Drug-related seizures result in uncontrollable shaking and heart palpitations and sometimes can be fatal.
Prosser said emergency room officials also had seen an increase in the number of patients with unusual and unrelated results resulting from intravenous drug use.
The use of dirty needles has resulted in heart valve and bone infections that can be fatal if they are not treated, be said.
Patients with infections are treated with intravenous antibiotics, Prosser said, but sometimes are difficult to treat.
"People who shoot up all the time have scarred their veins," he said. "We then have to surgically insert the IV, and the patient sometimes ends up taking drugs through the IV."
Although Prosser could not estimate the number of drug-related deaths, he said that drug use was becoming a major problem in the emergency room.
He said that because patient care was the primary concern of Med Center officials, they did not convey that information who used drugs to the authorities.
Instead, Med Center officials usually try to get drug-addicted patients into a rehabilitation program.
"The problem is that most people don't come in saying, 'Oh my God, I addicted.' They come in saying, 'What can I get more?' Prosser said.
Brent Finley, associate professor and director of maternal-fetal medicine, said the most common problems that officials in his unit were seeing were related to crack-addicted mothers having premature, high risk births.
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Many times the only good part of these people's lives is the high. That is the sad frustration of the situation. We don't expect for these people to see the need for rehabilitation.'
"The problem is a lot more prevalent than most people realize," he said.
William Topper Chief of neonatal division
Drug-related premature births are of a much greater risk to the baby than they are to the mother, Finley said. Med Center officials have not seen any maternal deaths resulting from crack use.
A baby born to a crack-addicted mother also is at risk of abruption, or premature separation of the baby from the placenta, he said. The baby normally separates from the placenta after delivery. But when this occurs prematurely the baby enters a life and death situation because he is separated from his only source of nourishment.
William Topper, chief of neonatal division, said that babies of drug-dependent mothers also were at a risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
He said that many babies born to addicted mothers suffered from behavioral problems during infancy learning problems down the road.
Although crack-addicted mothers do not always give birth to crack-addicted babies, mothers who are addicts of other drugs often have babies who also are addicted to that drug. Topper said. Babies born addicted to a drug go through withdrawal at birth and suffer symptoms such as irritability, high temperature and dehydration.
"They are very difficult babies to take care of." he said.
Med Center officials offer rehabilitation services to these families, Topper said, but most families don't use the services.
"It is very difficult give post-discharge services to these families and get a great outcome," he said. "Many times the only good part of these people's lives is the high. That is the sad frustration of the situation. We don't expect for these people to see the need for rehabilitation."
Finley said that because many adicted mothers came from the lower economic classes, many became fussy and hables also were undernourished.
"The mother is undernourished either because she can't afford to go to the grocery store to buy food or because of the crack," he said.
This does not mean, however, that upper classes are immune to drug problems. Finley said.
He said that many maternal drug problems also resulted in inadequate
"Every so often they come in before birth, and we get them into a detox program," Finley said. "But if every woman with a drug dependency came in, we would be overloaded."
Leonard Ferrington may have discovered a way to control a midge fly population that has grown because of treated sewage.
Researcher tries to solve fly problem
Creek infestation annoys residents near Lenexa plant
By Travis Butler Kansan staff writer
Midge flies might not swarm in Lenexa next summer if a KU researcher's work is successful.
Leonard Ferrington, an associate researcher for the Kansas Biological Survey on West Campus, said he spent much of the summer finding a way to control the small, annoying flies.
An infestation of the flies had followed the Little Mill Creek downstream from a Lenaex seawage treatment plant. The problem came to his attention early this spring, he said, when a local resident brought samples of the fly to the Museum of Entomology at Snow Hall. Little Mill Creek runs housing developments in the area, and residents were upset about the fly activity.
ment had received complaints from residents for about five weeks.
Ferrington said that May 6 he went to the plant area and did preliminary field work. He discovered in the stream a high level of organic enrichment that came from the plant's treated sewage. This provided a prime breeding environment for the flies.
Adam Fischer, director of public works for Lenexa, said the depart-
Ferrington said the chlorine used to disinfect the treated waste complicated the problem. It drove the team to develop a new method giving it an open field to breed *i*.
He discussed several possible solutions with city officials. He said that aerial spraying of insecticides was quickly mentioned and that it was ruled out for two reasons.
"First, the adult clothes live only about four to five days," Ferrington said. "They can mate and lay their eggs within hours after they mature and emerge from the water," so spraying would not reduce the population in the long run. Effective control would require spraying every few days.
He said the second reason was the stream was close to several high-use areas. The sewage plant
If there's something to be gained by further research,we'd like to see it happen. We would like to read his final report and decide what action, if any, to take.'
Adam Fischer
Lenexa director of public works
is across the street from Mill Creek Elementary School, and the stream runs through several planned public parks.
"It's not in their best interests to spray in that area," Ferrington said.
He said that a bacterial insecticide known as B.t.i. effectively controlled the midge fly population.
When a fly larvae ingests B.t.i., its digestive juices release a toxin in the bacteria that will kill the larvae before it can mature. Ferrington said. The bacteria only can be digested by certain insects.
Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to the solution.
He said that the same chlorine
treatment that drives away the fly's natural enemies also kills B.t.I. Although the chlorine dissipates downstream, the midge飞 concentration also decreases because of natural competition. So, the control provided by B.t.I. is hindered where it is most needed.
Ferrington's original tests were performed, on a 10-day variance the city received for the project, with the chlorine treatment turned off. When the chlorine was restored at the end of the period, the number of larvae rose in 24 days from 10,000 a square meter to 260,000 a square meter.
more tests using B.t.i., chlorine, treated water and larva should be performed in the laboratory. Ferington said. He wants to find a level of chlorine that will disinfect water to do its london against the fly larva.
Fischer said, "If there's something to be gained by further research, we'd like to see it happen."
Although sewage in Lawrence is treated in a way that does not encourage midge fly breeding, Ferrington said, he knows several locations in Kansas that have problems similar to Lexa's.
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