Campus/Area
University Dally Kansan / Thursday, April 26, 1990
3
Measles continue to cover area
By Steve Bailey
Kansan staff writer
Measures continue to be a problem for the state and for Douglas County, health officials said yesterday.
nurses for the Douglas County Health Department, said that after more than a week without reports of new cases, two cases were reported earlier this week.
Schnitker said the department received a report of a suspected case Monday afternoon involving a Lawrence infant. The other case, reported Tuesday afternoon, involves a Lawrence adult.
Douglas County has tallied eight suspected cases since April 9. Confirmation of the first two cases is in the middle of next week, Schitker said.
"The second blood screenings have been done and sent to the state for analysis," she said. "Depending on the delay because of backlog at the state health department, we should hear something next week."
Snitikker said it would be some time before health officials knew
whether the disease had run its course.
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said Tuesday that no cases had been detected at Watkins since the week of April 9.
Meanwhile, the state continues to be hit with a barrage of new suspected cases, said Greg Crawford, director of public information at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
"We are continuing to receive new reports every day." Crawford said. "Some cases have been taken off the list because they were found not to be measles, and others, which were thought to have been something else, have been added to the list on a daily basis."
As of yesterday, Crawford said, 189 cases, 39 of which have been confirmed, had been reported from 35 counties. Hardest hit have been Saline County, which has reported 13 confirmed cases and Finney County, which has reported eight confirmed cases and 18 suspected cases.
By a Kansan reporter
Measles victims need shorter rest
People who get the meals usually do not have to fear missing an extended period of school or would with some other illnesses.
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said students diagnosed with measures were asked not to return to classes or jobs until symptoms, including the rash, had dissipated.
This period usually lasts from 10 to 14 days.
That is different from the time period people must be away from work or classes when they have an infection such as mononucleosis. With mononucleosis, a person normally would have to wait about six or eight weeks before the illness ran its course.
Yockey said students were asked to go home when they were
diagnosed with a suspected case of measles. Students who live far from the University are asked to stay away from others as much as possible.
Symptoms of the disease usually do not appear until about nine days after contracting it. Measles patients are contagious soon after they contract the disease until about a week after symptoms appear.
"This outbreak has the potential of becoming one of the largest in state history," Crawford said. "It is definitely one of the largest outbreaks we have had since the beginning of widespread vaccination."
the outbreak last year
Crawford said last year's spring outbreak accounted for most of the 140 confirmed cases reported throughout the state in 1899. Officials will not know until the end of the year whether the current outbreak will top
"It is a very unpredictable disease," he said. "In 1988, there were no confirmed cases of measles in the state. Last year we had 140 confirmed cases. There is really no way to predict when the outbreak will die down."
Crawford said the extreme contagiousness of the disease greatly contributed to the problem of outbreak control.
"Measles is an extremely communicable disease that will find susceptible people whenever the opportunity presents itself," he said. "Once schools get out, there will probably be a drop of the number of cases from school will wipe out one of the larger methods of transmission of the disease."
Crawford said cases probably would continue to be reported sporadically until the end of June.
Branson to retire as state legislator
By a Kansan reporter
TOPEKA - State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, announced
yesterday that she would not run for a sixth con-
gress in the Kansas House of Representatives.
Branson has represented the 44th congressional district
since 1980 but said a 10-year stay was probably long enough.
Branson said Lawrence was one of the finest cities in the state.
"It has been a real, real pleasure to represent that community," she said.
"It has been a very rewarding time in my life," she said. "I've had a good stint. It may be time for new energies to take over."
She said she was retiring from the House to spend more time with her husband and family and to work on her house.
"I've been trying to get my house in habitable condition," she said.
During her years as a representative, Branson has been a member of the House Taxation and Education committees anw, was ranking minority member of the Committee on Public Health and Welfare.
House Minority Leader Marvin Barkis, D-Louisburg, praised Branson in a statement.
"She has, by her own she will, kept important issues on the front burner when others were willing to let those issues wait for another day.
"I am confident that her departure from the House does not mean that she is retiring from public service, only that other groups in Lawrence and elsewhere will benefit from her time."
Computer alitch
Gretchen Plippinger/KANSAN
About 100 students wait outside the enrollment center at Strong Hall director of student records, after the crash yesterday afternoon. The after the computers went down for 45 minutes." Actually, the center was back on schedule within an hour, and officials do not know students are being very cooperative," said Edith Guffey, assistant what caused the computer problem.
Senator presents cuts for budget
By Rod Griffin
Kansas staff writer
TOPEKA — State Sen. Gus Bogina, R-Lenessa, introduced a bill Tuesday that would institute across the-board budget cuts if state spending the general fund to less than $100 million at the end of the wrap-up session.
Bogina's plan would raise $60 million for the State General Fund by decreasing every budget by 2.5 percent.
"I in my opinion we need a minimum, minimum, of $100 million," he said.
Kansas '90 Legislature
But he said he would like to have $113 million to $115 million in the general fund to provide a margin of safety. Bogina estimated that the 2.5 percent cut would bring the fund close to that amount.
Bogina said that if the general fund fell below $100 million, the state would be forced into a deficit spending situation. Even with $100 million budget, the state would operate in the red for a short period of time during the year.
State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, said she adamantly would oppose the measure.
"That is a very unfair way to do it," she said. "You would cut programs that are vital to people and their lives."
Branson said that the already hard-hit Social and Rehabilitation Services Budget should not be cut again and that education budgets should not be cut.
Branson proposed other means for replacing general-fund money.
"Everyone is looking more and more to that highly accessible highway fund," she said.
She said $33 million could be transferred to the general fund if the Kansas Highway Patrol budget were included in the Kansas Department of Transportation budget. The patrol now is financed from the general fund. She said funds also could be taken from other programs.
Seismologist speaks about San Francisco earthquake experience
Kansan staff writer
By Bryce J. Tache
Don Stephanis is one of the few people who can say he enjoyed the San Francisco earthquake last year, registered 6.9 on the Richter scale.
Steeple, Kansas Geological Survey seismologist, was teaching a seminar in Sunnyvale, Calif., when the quake hit Oct. 17.
ming pool, and a guy was surging whether he tried to or not. Several thousand gallons of water surged on the sidewalk. The trees were twisting and wiggling. It was incredibly difficult to walk.
"We were on the first floor of a Sheraton Hotel," he said. "I remember walking toward a sliding glass door, and only a few shoes in case the glass shattered.
"Outside was a patio with a swim-
"For me personally, it was a really exciting experience."
Steeple talks to about 35 people at yesterday's University Forum at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
Earthquakes are caused by movement of the geologic plates that cover the surface of the earth. Steepleches occur in areas where earthquakes occur in the Pacific Ocean basin.
Steeples said earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault, which divides the California coast from the rest of the continent, were somewhat predictable.
Although last year's earthquake was not as strong as the 1906 quake that leveled San Francisco, areas of worst damage were consistent for each.
"The likelihood of a magnitude 7 in the near future is quite high," he said. "I'd say there is a 50-50 chance that it will occur." The return to the 'big one' is not likely to occur probably during any of our lifetimes."
A magnitude 7 is considered to be a major earthquake.
Steeples said faults existed in Kansas and Missouri, although Midwestern quakes were relatively rare.
An 1811 earthquake along the New Madrid Fault, in the bootleth of Missouri, caused extensive damage and rang church bells to far away as Boston. If a similar quake occurred today, damage to Lawrence and Kansas City would be minimal, he said.
"It would tople a few chimneys, knock a few things off some shelves, and that would be the extent of it," he said.
Richard Nelson, Lawrence resident, attended the forum. He said it was especially informative because his daughter lived in Big Redwood Park, three miles from the epicenter of last year's earthquake.
"She just turned on the World Series and whammo!" he said. "The television was thrown at her feet. All the dishes and glassware in the house were broken.
"Hers was the only house in the whole area that was not knocked down completely. She can still live in her house. None of her neighbors can."
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