wednesday, april 28, 2004
news
the university daily kansan
5A
Adults without tetanus vaccine susceptible
By Matt Rodriguez
mrdriguez@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
It was a small nick on her left hand, almost unnoticeable two weeks later.
Andrea Long, Overland Park junior, didn't think tetanus was that serious until she cut her hand and researched the disease on the Internet.
"It's this weird disease you don't think or worry about, but that's actually how you get it," Long said.
After she cut her hand on some
barbed wire two weekends ago, she called her mother to find out when her last vaccination was. It turned out that she received her last shot almost 10 years ago to the date. So, Monday morning she went to Watkins Memorial Health Center and received her shot.
According to a study published two years ago in the Annals of Internal Medicine, tetanus, along with other diseases, can be prevented with a vaccine, but adults are not adhering to the recommended schedule and are lacking protection
against tetanus. Researchers also found that as adults get older, they fail to keep their bodies immune to the disease.
against tetanus.
case. Out of 25 students randomly questioned on campus, only four could remember when their last tetanus shot was.
Tetanus is a tiny infectious disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause lockjaw, muscle spasms, difficulty swallowing and even death, said Myra Strother, chief of staff at Watkins.
"Anytime you manage to break
Strother said tetanus needed to reach the inside of your skin in order for it to live.
the skin's surface and dirt or dust are around, that can be a sign of tetanus," she said.
It can incubate in the skin for three days or up to several months. The bacteria's incubation period correlates to how far away the cut is from the central nervous system. In other words, tetanus can live longer in the hand or foot than in the head or neck.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends a tetanus vaccination before an infant turns 1, and again between 15 and 18 months and finally between ages 4 and 6. It recommends a person receive the shot every 10 years following the third round of shots.
Strother recommends the shot every 10 years, but if someone gets a wound in an unsanitary environment, such as the garden or a rusty object, they should get another shot if they haven't had one in the past five years.
— Edited by Meghan Brune
Other vaccine facts
The University of Kansas requires that all international students be screened for tuberculosis.
New students must have received two measles, mumps and rubella shots before coming to school.
Students living in residence halls and group housing should consider receiving the meningitis vaccine.
Source: Myra Strother, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center
Devoted people try to right wrongs
By Patrick Cady
pcady@kansan.edu
Kansas staff writer
Health Center
Five people representing five beliefs gathered last night to right the wrong.
They debated at an event called "religiously incorrect" at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The event, which drew more than 100 people, was organized by the Society of Open Minded Atheists.
Representatives from Judaism, Islam, Wiccan, Christianity and Secular Humanism were on the panel. The panelists varied on gender, race and age. Two University of Kansas students, Ali Agha and Erin Collins, represented the Muslims and Wiccans respectively
They took on issues ranging from overpopulation to the media to the war in Iraq.
Among the questions was how
The reason for the event was to provide the campus with an array of varied religious views, Andrew Stangl, Wichita freshman and president of the society, said.
Thad Holcombe, campus minister at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1234 Oread Ave., moderated the event opening by giving five questions to each representative.
well the media portrayed religion.
Michael Boekman, a reforemed Jew and Rabbi in training answered first.
"Media always has to be generalizing." Boekman said. "Every faith has its branches and its observations."
David Penny, Lawrence resident, attended seminary and is a Protestant with the Lawrence
The next to speak was Don Kemmerling, a representative of the Secular Humanists, an atheistic group, and host of the Kansas City based radio show, Voice of Reason. He said the media largely ignored atheists as a group.
Bible Chapel. He said the media seemed too biased in its reporting.
Collins, a Kansas City, Mo., junior, said she believed the media had always misrepresented the varied Wicca faiths.
the values Agha, the Muslim representative and Wichita sophomore, also said the media had been misportraying his faith especially with an often faulty connection between Islam and terrorism, but also reacted strongly to talk on the war in Iraq.
He said he believed the war was illegal under international law and as a Muslim, it was unnecessarily harmful.
Brent Carter/Kansan
Erin Collins, Kansas City, Mo., junior and Ali Agha, Paola freshman, participated in "Religiously Incorrect" last night at Alderson Auditorium.
"Everyone who dies in this is a waste," Agha said.
Collins also said her group held a similar view.
"The war is disastrous," Collins said.
— Edited by Guillaume Doane
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