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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Monday
April 13, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 131
(USPS 650-640)
Kansas House, Senate recess
By CHRISTOPHER HINES Staff writer
Staff writer
The state Legislature took a two and a half week recess Friday without finishing some of its homework, including several bills concerning money and programs for the University of Kansas.
"This year is exceptional in that so many bills are in conference and that so many issues are unresolved," said State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence. "This is becoming more so every year."
State lawmakers did, however, approve a state lottery, liquor by the drink and a bill prohibiting nuclear waste disposal in Kansas, before going into recess. Two weeks ago, the Senate threw out by four votes the death penalty, despite strong support from Gov. Mike Hayden.
When lawmakers return on April 29,
for a few, four, five days.
Alan Hagman/KANSAN
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The University of Kansas Medical Center is one of the 69 hospitals that sends blood to the Community Blood Center, said Nancy Miller, director of University Relations at the Med Center.
The Community Blood Center, 4040 Main, Kansas City, Mo., routinely tests every unit of blood from volunteer donors in the community for the AIDS antibody. Since July 1888, the Center has performed the service for patients in Kansas and Missouri, said Lynn Bridges, director of public relations.
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Of the 80,000 units of blood that the Community Blood Center has tested since 1985, only 22 units have tested positive.
"This is quite low compared to other cities," Bridges said.
Bridges said that the AIDS antibody, or HTLV-III, test was not 100 percent accurate. However the test is considered good because of its sensitivity to the presence of AIDS antibodies.
"If we find a sample of blood that has tested positive, then we run our other tests on it and then ask the donor to come back in and donate a second pint of blood," she said. "If the test is positive again, then we talk one-on-one with the person and tell them that they have tested positive for AIDS."
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"We're really picky at the Center," she said. "Potential donors have to sign a letter stating that they understand that they could jeopardize the blood supply if they have AIDS, and fill out a medical history form that includes candid questions about AIDS exposure."
The Center collects blood according to the needs of the service area and does not import blood from outside of the region where it might have a greater chance of being tainted, Bridges said.
The Lawrence community also may be considered a low-risk area. Of the 10,000 units of blood that the Lawrence Red Cross has tested since 1985, Byers said that only two units had tested positive.
"I believe that one of those cases occurred because the individual was considered high risk," she said. Those two people and their physicians were contacted and told about contamination of blood was discarded.
The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., estimates that nationwide more than 500 people may have contracted AIDS after receiving transfusions given before the initial test became available in 1985.
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Recipients of these donations are being tracked from transfusion records. The Red Cross follows up by sending letters to involved hospitals, who then inform physicians that their patients have received potentially contaminated blood and may be at risk for AIDS.
Because of this, Byers said that last year Red Cross instituted a "Look Back" program to identify the recipients of AIDS-patient blood donated by people who didn't know they were infected.
Bridges said that the Med Center received a number of calls after the recent warning about transfusions. People who had received a transfu
sion during the specified years asked whether they should have their blood tested for the AIDS antibody.
Those people should consult with their physicians first, she said, especially if they received the transfusion in a low-risk area. The test still may be needed and can be administered on test and tested again by the Center.
"The chance of acquiring AIDS through a transfusion was remote before the HTLV-III test." Bridges said. "The chance of acquiring AIDS since the test was implemented is as simple as finding a needle in a haustack."
People who suspect they have come in contact with the AIDS virus can be tested at any one of 25 counseling and testing sites in Kansas. The state Health Department said people could go someplace and request a blood test instead of asking blood donor centers to test them.
The Lawrence site has tested 51 people for the AIDS antibodies since April 1986, said Ann Ailor, a charge nurse specializing in communicable diseases Ailor said as an AIDS counselor at the Lawrence site, 338 Missouri St.
A testing laboratory has returned 45 of the 51 samples, and all 45 were negative.
"I did recommend to a number of these people to have the test taken again in six months because the disease's incubation period might have caused the antibodies not to have shown up yet." Allor said.
"I think it is good that the incidence of positive tests was so low and that Kansas is considered a low-risk area." Alor said. "But people shouldn't become complacent about the disease and think they can't acquire it in Kansas, because we've had 59 cases here statewide."
The Lawrence site has had a substantial increase in the number of requests for the test from last year. Ailor said she attributed the increase to greater media coverage and to educational material about AIDS.
But she said it was important to view the testing site in its proper oerspective.
Anyone can be tested for AIDS at the state testing site without having to pay anything, Ailor said. She added that she counselled everyone before they had a tube of blood drawn and whether they were in a high-risk group.
"People come in here to have the test taken because they think they might have come in contact with the disease." Allor said. "So we would have a greater number of positive tests."
The AIDS antibody test is returned from the state lab in a week to 10 days, Ailor said. If the test is positive, then she sets up a counseling session to inform that person that he or she is carrying AIDS antibodies.
Last year, Ailor said, 11.8 percent of the people tested for the AIDS antibodies at testing sites across the state were diagnosed as positive.
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I think it is good that the incidence of positive tests was so low and that Kansas is considered a low-risk area. But people shouldn't become complacent about the disease and think they can't acquire it in Kansas, because we've had 59 cases here statewide.'
— Ann Ailor nurse
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