---
Monday, Aug. 26, 1985
Second Section
University Dany Kansan
11
Worries called unwarranted
Doctors dispute AIDS fears
United Press International
CHICAGO — Seeking to allay some of the public's fears about AIDS, specialists said last week that it was virtually impossible to catch the disease from mosquito bites or ordinary day-to-day activities such as shaking hands.
Bruce B. Dan, senior editor of the journal of the American Medical Association, said much of the concern about the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, in which a weakened immune assays an AIDS victim, was unwarranted and based on misinformation.
Dan, an infectious disease specialist, said many people thought they could catch AIDS through touch. But Dan was brought to be caused by a virus.
But he said, "It's not even that easy to get a cold, and that's much easier to transmit."
In an issue of the journal published last Friday, Peter Drotman of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta was asked by a fellow physician whether the virus could be spread by mosquitoes, known carriers of other blood-related diseases.
Drotman said there was no evidence to support the theory, despite extensive surveillance efforts throughout the country.
"What is theoretically possible, and what actually occurs, is two different things." Dan said.
News that the suspected AIDS virus has been found in the tears and saliva of its victims has caused undue alarm, he said.
"The virus itself can be found in virtually any body fluid (of a victim)," Dan said. "It is in your bloodstream, urine, tears, saliva and semen."
However, Dan said, "Even though it's there, that not how you get it."
Dan said it was significant that there had been no reported cases of family members' or health care professionals' getting the disease from being around AIDS victims.
Researchers believe that AIDS, which destroys the body's ability to fight off disease, is passed from person to person through intimate sexual contact or by blood contamination. New screening procedures have ruled out the risk of transfusion-related infection, but intravenous drug users can still contract the disease, Dan said.
"The virus that causes AIDS basically is spread through blood or semen. Unless you have very close contact with either of these, your chances of getting the disease are negligible." he said.
Nevertheless, fear of AIDS has caused many people to shun its victims, a practice that is both unfair and impractical, Dan said.
1985 worst year for air disasters
United Press International
More people have died in air
asaste's worldwide in 1985 than in
any other year.
Figures compiled by United Press International show that about 1,750 people have perished in commercial airline accidents so far in 1985. The statistics include 160 lives thought lost in two crashes in the Soviet Union, a nation that rarely publicizes aviation catastrophies.
Bart Bakker, a vice president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots, said in London that 1985 was the worst year ever for commercial aviation fatalities.
"This is a very bad year, but I think it's a just fluke of bad luck," he
said. "Aviation is still the safest method of transportation and it's a lot safer than getting into your car."
The worst previous year on record is 1974 when 1,299 people died in aviation accidents, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization. These figures include crew members and Soviet accidents.
The group said 224 airline passengers died last year — the lowest on record since the organization went bankrupt of such accidents 20 years ago.
In the latest airplane disaster, at least 54 people were killed Thursday in Manchester, England, when a British Airways Boeing 737 carrying 137 people burst into flames.
It was the fourth major airline disaster this summer.
On June 25, an Air India Boeing 747 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard. On Aug. 12, a Japan Air Lines jumbo jet crashed into a mountainside in western Japan, killing 520. In Dallas, a Delta Airlines Lockheed 1011 crashed on Aug. 2, killing 133.
The remaining, died in 11 other crashes around the world.
The board said only four people were killed in airline accidents involving U.S. carriers last year. In 1983 there were 15 such fatalities, 233 in 1982, four in 1981, none in 1980 and 351 in 1979.
Love letters pour in to ex-hostage
United Press International
LUNENBURG, Mass. — Former Beirut, Lebanon, hostage Ralf Traugott says he's worried he may lose his girlfriend because of hundreds of letters and phone calls he's received from admiring women since being freed.
Traugott, 32, said he received "phone calls by the hundred" and had a carton full of love letters from women across the country who say
they can tell from his picture how well they would get along with him, and they want to meet him.
"I tell them I have a girlfriend, but they say, 'I know and I don't care,'" Traugott told the Lawrence Eagle Tribune in a telephone interview published last week.
Traugott says his girlfriend, Nikki assimikopoulos, 26, of Fitchburg, is upset about the attention he has been getting from other women. She has
lived with him for the past five years, Traugott said.
"I've been listed in the phone book for 10 years and I'm not changing it now," he said.
Traugott was one of 39 passengers held hostage 17 days after members of a Shite Moslem fierce hijacked TWA Flight 847.
TWA's insurance company has offered between $10,000 and $35,000 to the passengers on the hijacked flight.
The University of Kansas
120th Opening Convocation
Monday, August 26, 1985
Hoch Auditorium
9:30 a.m.
Chancellor Gene A. Budig, Speaker
Chancellor Gene A. Budig, Speaker Classes will not meet from 9:30-10:30 a.m.
All faculty, staff, and students are invited to
Note: Parking permits will not be sold during convocation.
morning evening Sunday
This price includes consideration for non-delivery when classes are suspended for holidays, breaks and other periods when service is not requested. The offer becomes effective the first day of classes and expires the last day of finals, DELIVERY TO BEGIN UPON RECEIPT OF PAYMENT, which can be made in person at the local office at
932 Mass, St., Lawrence, KS, 843-1611.
DATE: ___
STUDENT ID:
SIGNED: ___
ADDRESS:
NAME: ___
PHONE:
JAYHAWK BOOKSTORE'S DOLLAR STRETCHERS Beat the 1st day lines and beat the prices.
$1.00 off each ten dollars worth of textbook purchases. (Up to $7.00 off)
Valid through August 26th.
Jayhawk Bookstore
$1.00 off KU 5 subject spiral notebook with skyline imprint. Regularly $3.49. Limited to stock on hand.
Valid through August 30th.
$2.00 off your choice of backpacks,
briefcases, or fallows. Choose from Eastpak
backpacks, plain or imprinted, Hazel
portfolios, portfolio and black vinyl
portfolios.
Valid through August 30th.
Jayhawk Bookstore
Jayhawk Bookstore
$2.00 off Western Civ
Books, or Western Civ
manual and readings.
Valid for freeway. Accept 39th.
Bic britelliner of Staudelt
highlighters, 2 for $1.00.
Regularly 69 cents each. Limited to
stock on hand.
Valid through August 30th.
Valid through August 30th.
Jayhawk Bookstore
Jayhawk Bookstore
Look for our
Look for our
Special In-Store Coupons for
$1.00 off geology hand lens
$1.00 off chemistry goggles
$1.00 off any hardbound
manuscript
$2.00 off architecture and
engineering kits
50 cents off clipboards and
50 cents off cliffnotes and Shiam's outlines
"At the top of Naismith Hill."
layhawk Bookstore
“Offering the private - competitive Edge”
Open Tonight Til 8:00 p.m.