Friday, August 22,1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Drugs unable to stop staph germ
New antibiotic needed to fight stubborn strain
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — A staph germ, which has resisted medicine's drug of last resort, has shown up for the first time in the United States and may soon be unstoppable, government officials said yesterday.
"The timer is going off," said William Jarvis, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We were concerned it would emerge here. It has emerged here, and we are concerned we're going to see it popping up in more places."
A strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria found in a Michigan man in July showed an intermediate level of resistance to vancomycin — which is one step from immunity to the drug, the CDC
said. The CDC and the Michigan Department of Health would not identify the man or say where he lives.
The patient, who suffered kidney failure, had been taking vancomycin for a year and a half for a recurring infection from an abdominal catheter used for kidney dialysis. He was successfully treated with a combination of drugs, including vancomycin, Jarvis said.
The Michigan discovery came three months after a similar resistant strain was found in Japan.
In May, the CDC reported that a 4-month-old Japanese infant developed staph from a boil after heart surgery. That strain of staph also showed an intermediate resistance to vancomycin, and the baby was treated with other drugs.
U. S. hospitals were alerted to watch for the strain here.
"Now that you have two in such a short time, there will be heightened concern," said Richard Schwalbe, director of clinical microbiology at the University of Maryland.
of hospital infections. They are blamed for about 13 percent of the nation's 2 million hospital infections each year, according to the CDC. Overall, the 2 million infections kill 60,000 to 80,000 people.
Staph bacteria are the No.1 cause
The bacteria can collect on clothing, blankets, walls and medical equipment. Hospital workers can pass them on by hand, and they can cling to tubes inserted into the body.
To combat their spread, many hospitals across the country have restricted use of their most potent antibiotics and isolated their sickest patients.
For patients, the rise of drugresistant germs means that the medicine they get for their infection may not make them better, forcing doctors to switch to one or more of the 100 antibiotics now on the market.
However, many fear the time is growing near when there will be no alternative antibiotic.
Penicillin was a wonder drug that killed staph when it became available in 1947. Within a decade, some strains grew resistant, a development attributed to overuse
of antibiotics and the failure of some patients to take their medicine properly.
Then came methicillin in the 1960s, then vancomycin, which was so potent it was regarded as the silver bullet against staph.
"There's going to be a lot or throwing up of arms with doctors saying now we have to live with this," said Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "That is not true. We must fight it vigorously. We are also going to have to be much more stingy with our use of vancomycin."
Pharmaceutical companies are working to develop new antibiotics.
An experimental new antibiotic called Synercid, made by Rhone-Poulenc, killed the strain found in the Japanese infant. In lab tests, it was effective on the staph strain in the Michigan man, but tests showed his bacteria were not resistant to other antibiotics.
Synercid has not been approved yet for general use in the United States.
Murder of editor, girlfriend doesn't stop newspaper from being published on time
The Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. — Editor Dennis Joos died trying to protect the staff at his weekly newspaper from a man who had just killed a woman in the parking lot with a rifle.
With blood on the ground and police searching every inch of the building and grounds, the staff of "The News and Sentinel" in Colebrook then wrote the story and put out the paper — on time, with three bylined stories by the slain editor.
"This town expects us to put out the paper," said publisher John Harrigan.
Harrison was not in the building Tuesday afternoon when Carl Drega shot Harrison's former girlfriend, Vickie Bunnell, and Joos,
the publisher's close friend. Bunnell, a lawyer and part-time judge, had an office in the same building.
Harrigan jumped into his car to drive to the paper after hearing on a scanner that two state troopers had been shot in Colebrook, a town of 2,600 just nine miles from Canada.
Harrigan called the paper from his car and office manager Gil Short told him two more people had been killed in the newspaper's parking lot.
"The minute I heard there was a shooting here, I knew it was Drega," Harrigan said.
Drega, 62, who was killed by police, was well-known as a troublemaker who had threatened Bunnell in the past because of court rul
ings that went against him.
As Drea arrived at the newspaper Tuesday afternoon in a cruiser stolen from one of the troopers, Bunnell spotted him from her window and ran through the newspaper offices shouting a warning. She then ran out the back door, followed by most of "The News and Sentinel" staff.
Drega ran behind the building and shot and killed Bunnell, 44, in the parking lot. Joos tackled him, but Drega wrestled free and shot the editor, then left. Joos, 51, died on the way to the hospital.
The weekly paper was 80 percent complete when Joos was shot.
headlined "Horrible, unbelievable, and other words that fail," and wrote the lead story on the shootings.
Harrigan, who also was friends with the dead troopers, ripped apart the paper, wrote an editorial
"I didn't have to check facts," he said Wednesday.
The weekly, which covers parts of three states and southern Quebec province with about a dozen staff members and several correspondents, hit the stands as usual Wednesday morning.
Joos, who spent as much time as he could writing stories, will live on for a while in the pages of the paper he loved.
He had a file of feature stories waiting for room in the paper and had just finished writing a novel, "The Curse of the House of Windgate."
New magazine to show natural look at beauty
"Perfect 10" displays unaltered breasts instead of implants
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A new magazine hits newsstands next week featuring topless women who don't have breast implants.
"I've been to strip joints and fallen in love. And then you realize they're not real, and it's heartbreaking," said Norm Zadeh, publisher of "Perfect 10."
So he wants readers to know what real breasts look like, in case they've forgotten.
"They think when a women lays down, her breasts are supposed to stand straight up, like rockets ready for launch," he said.
Publishing industry observers said while "Perfect 10" is the first magazine of its kind, it is entering a market saturated with about 200 erotic female magazines. They said Zadeh is also assuming that consumers base their purchasing decision on whether or not the models have had cosmetic breast surgery.
gery.
"If he's going for the puritan at heart, he's wrong. The puritans aren't going to be looking at a naked woman in the first place," said Samir Husni, journalism professor at University of Mississippi in Oxford and author of guides on new magazines. "If it's a fantasy magazine, why do I want to look at something real?"
Martin Walker of Walker Communications, a magazine publishing consulting firm in
"I've been to strip joints and fallen in love. And then you realize they're not real, and it's heartbreaking."
Norm
Zadeh
publisher of Perfect 10
New York, said Zadeh is a first-time publisher with very little idea of the financial challenges in the publishing industry.
A man who estimates his personal wealth to be in millions, the 47-year-old Zadeh will not accept advertising money for the first two issues. The magazine, to be published internationally six times a year, will sell for $6.95 per issue.
"Look, if I lose $500,000 a year on 'Perfect 10,' I'll be happy. It's not about that," he said. "I'd like to put out something that raises the standards."
A former visiting professor of business and math at Stanford University, Columbia University and UCLA, Zadeh said "Perfect 10" recaptures the classy days of "Playboy" magazine, which has become implanted and raunchy.
"Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner responded with a prepared statement faxed to The Associated Press.
"We would certainly never disqualify a beautiful model because she had made the decision to enhance her figure," part of the statement read.
NOW HIRING FOR TELECENTER Consultants at Sprint TELECENTERs, Inc.
Thank you for your interest with Norrell and Kelly Services at Sprint TELECENTERs Inc. There are a number of positions available at Sprint TELECENTERs. We will do our best to train, encourage and support you in the skills necessary to be successful.
Thank you for your interest and welcome to the fastest growing teleservices center in the country!
Work Schedule
Day Shifts:
Requirements
Eve Shifts:
8-4:30PM M-F
8-12PM M-Th and 9-3 Sat.
12:30-9:00PM M-F
5-10PM M-Th and 9-3 Sat.
Training Pay Rate
- Sales/customer service experience in a corporate environment
- Excellent verbal and telephone communication skills
- Team player attitude
- High School diploma or equivalent
- Computer literate
- Pass drug screen and criminal background check
- Enthusiastic, energetic, and dependable
All employees attend a paid one-hour orientation and a mandatory training program.
$700 an hour and Bonus.
One Riverfront Plaza Suite 101 Lawrence, Ks 66044 838-7800 e information visit this
KELLY SERVICES
For more information visit this address.