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Clears
AIDS Hysteria Unwarranted
By Reed Peebles
The headline of the June 16 edition of the San Antonio Ex- pnas read as follows: Paramedics Want AIDS Pro¬ tection.
Paramedics are not the only ones. A nationwide panic of sorts has erupted In response to the outbreak of a new and very serious disease known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS.
AIDS has just about everybody spooked. Health care workers across the coun¬ try are quitting their jobs rather than treat AIDS pa¬ tients. San Francisco Police use a special plastic device to avoid mouth to mouth contact while rescusitating potential AIDS victims. The New York State Funeral Directors Association requested that Its memtmrs not take AIDS cases until federal guidelines have been established. The Red Cross has suffered a 16.1% decline in blood donations, although, according to Dr. Alfred Katz, Director of Blood Services, "There is absolutely no association between AIDS and donating blood." To date, there is also no relation bet¬
ween health care workers and AIDS, as none have contracted the disease.
In fact, statistics con¬ clusively show that AIDS is not casually transmissible by skin contact or respiration. In order to demonstrate this fact, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Margaret Heckler, visited the Warren Magnuson Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. She shook hands with and sat at the bedsides of AIDS victims specifically to allay fears of routine transmisslbility.
if AIDS is not casually transmissible, what is the cause of such unwarranted public hysteria? In large measure, fear of the unknown is responsible. According to Dr. . Charles J. Gauntt, Associate Professor
Microbiology at UT Health Science Center, the cause, and thus the cure, for AIDS, re¬ mains a mystery.
Mystery alone, however, cannot sustain a panic. The common cold has been relatively mysterious for cen¬ turies, but it has certainly never been much cause for public hysteria, because the symptoms   of   the   cold   are
Construction
Way for New Bridge
Spur 53 rrtay not sound familiar now, but by mid September most traffic going to UTSA will be traveling along that road.
UTSA Blvd., formally main¬ tained by the City of San An¬ tonio will now be part of the Texas Highway System, con¬ sequently it's name will be changed.
Construction on the road behind the University t>egan In late March and since May 26 has been diverting traffic due to construction of a bridge over a low water crossing.
"After the double drowning
last year," says Chief Inspec¬ tor of the Highway Depart¬ ment, Mark Roetzel, "the state allocated a quarter of a million dollars for the bridge to be built."
Initially, the road was to run from Hausman Road near 1-10 and DeZavala to Regency. When the land was acquired by the state, plans were then changed to Include the new bridge.
"Hopefully," stated Roetzel, "construction will have been completed by early September, but," he added, "you  have  the  weather and
other things you can't predict" which could put the comple¬ tion date further away.
In addition to the new bridge, work on the road also includes an overlay of 1 " asphalt from Regency to Xemene Street.
Other construction schedul¬ ed for the near future includes expansion of 1604 to a four- ilaned divided highway from 1-10 to 1-35 and an underpass which will divert traffic on 1604 under the railroad just east of the 1604, 1-10 cloverleaf.
Construction along UTSA Blvd., which will divert traffic until mid September, includes this bridge which crosses over an old low water crossing.
Blood Bank Needs Donors
|By Michele Salyards
The week of July 18-22 is Young Donors Week, and since the South Texas Regional Blood Band will be operating in full force at UTSA on the 18th and 19th, donors have the opportunity to prove that summer time is not a bad season for the blood bank.
According to Dena Jardin, a representative with S.T.R.B.B., "Summertime has traditionally been the worst time for two reasons, one, loss of the se¬ cond largest donor group (high school students) and two, the myth that blood usage level goes up in the summer."
These reasons, among others, cause a drop of approx¬ imately 12% every year in donors during the summer.
However, according to Jar- din, "We feel we should be able to receive 100 to 150 donors" tiecause of the large enrollment in summer school
Sucl^er...
ife saver
at UTSA.
Jardin stated, "We're holding the blood drive during Young Donors Week to remind high school and college students that their donations play an Important part of meeting the blood needs of our community."
Some concern over the recently publicized Issue of AIDS, (Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome), however, "Has not affected the drop in donors " says Direc-
relatlvely mild and transient. Conversely, the symptoms of AIDS are very unique and dramatic. It Is the catastrophic nature of the symptoms, com¬ bined with the enigma of the disease origin, which has spawned the current widespread distress. An understanding of these symp¬ toms Is not possible without some rudimentary knowledge of the normal human immune system.
The human environment is richly contaminated with pathogens (disease causing organisms such as bacteria.
viruses, fungi, etc). Humans constantly breathe and touch millions of these different organisms with virtually no III effect. These organisms are prevented from taking root in the body and causing disease primarily by virtue of white blood cells, which constitute the backbone of the human Im¬ mune system.
Many different types of white blood cells exist In a constant ratio to one another In the normal t>ody. Acting as biological pac-men, they race around the bloodstream and gobble    up   the   pathogenic
tor of Technical Services at S.T.R.B.B. Dennis Hendren. But he added, "There's a feel¬ ing trom the donors stand¬ point, 'can they catch it (AIDS) from needles?', No, donations will not give you AIDS.'
The only affect AIDS has had on donors, says Hendren, is that it has made them "More concerned and more aware. ' But as Jardin points out, "We have very thorough screening questions to screen out poten¬ tial victims of any serious il¬ lness," which Includes routine testing for hepetitis and syphillis.
The drive will be held in the Student Health Center on the 1st floor of the Science Building, from 9 to 4, July 18 and 19.
ghosts of potential disease. It is the ratio of one type of white blood cell to another which is the critical consideration.
This ratio is severly disturb¬ ed in the AIDS victim. The ef¬ fect of this Imbalance Is the almost complete deactivation of white blood cells, and the consequential collapse of nor¬ mal human Immunity.
uont. on pg. 4