The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 23, 1983 - Page 9
Scientists peg cause
of 'cat scratch fever'
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AP Photo
Four eyes?
Dr. Terry Bahill of Carnegie Mellon University models glasses he devised to
track the movements of baseball players' eyes as they follow a ball.
Pontiac state senator
faces recall election
WASHINGTON (AP) - Government
scientists have discovered an organism
they believe is the cause of cat scratch
disease, a mysterious infection people
get from animals and has stymied
researchers for decades. Though rarely
fatal, it can lead to brain damage in
children.
The elusive agent turns out to be a
tiny bacterium that apparently is tran-
smitted to humans through scratches
from animals, most often cats, says a
report to be published today in Science
magazine. A co-author says the finding
means scientists should now be able to
grow the organism in the laboratory,
the first step toward developing treat-
ment agents.
AndrewMargileth, a physician and a
co-author of the study, said the
discovery is a major advance.
"AFTER 30 years of research, we
never came up with a darn thing,"
Margileth said in an interview, "but
now we know its a bacterium and from
here we should be able to isolate and
culture the organism."
Margileth, who saw 60 cat scratch
patients last year, said the disease is a
relatively common problem that tends
to go undiagnosed because most patien-
ts recover on their own and doctors of-
ten don't know what to look for.
Most patients are scratched by an
animal, but the wound disappears in a
week after a minor blister. But after
about two weeks, lymph glands located
near the scratch begin to swell and
sometimes can get as large as a
grapefruit, he said.
THE DISEASE does not respond to
any common antibiotic, but the swollen
glands and discomfort usually go away
on their own in a few weeks or months.
Police
notes
East Liberty robbery
Two women were robbed at knife
point early yesterday morning as they
walked down East Liberty near Fourth
Avenue.
The women, aged 19 and 20, were ap-
proached by a man in his late twenties
around 2:45 a.m. The suspect threw one
of the women to the ground, pulled out a
knife, and ordered them to hand over
all their money. The women gave him a
small amount of cash and the man fled
on foot toward State Street. The women
suffered a bruised shoulder.
Because doctors don't always
recognize the swollen glands as cat
scratch disease, they sometimes
surgically remove all or part of them to
check for cancer and other problems,
he said.
The disease does not respond to any
of the common antibiotics.
CAT SCRATCH disease, sometimes
called catscratch fever, was first
diagnosed about 40 years ago. The
disease most often occurs in children
and experts estimate that there are a
minimum of 2,000 new cases a year in
the United States.
Although the disease is rarely fatal, it
can result in sustained high fevers and
seizures, which place a child at risk of
brain damage, experts say.
Researchers at the Armed Forces In-
stitute of Pathology and the Uniformed
Services University of the Health
Sciences examined lymph nodes of 39
patients from several countries
diagnosed to have the disease. In 34 of
the samples, they found the bacteria in
the tissue, said the report.
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LANSING (UPI) - Sen. Phil
Mastin's decision yesterday to forgo an
appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court
means that by December, he could be
the first state lawmaker to face a recall
election.
Mastin - whose ouster is being
sought by citizens unhappy over his
vote to raise the state income tax -
aid he sees no real point in carrying his
case to invalidate recall petitions filed
against him to the state's highest court.
"I HAVE consulted my attorney and
am satisfied fully that nothing con-
structive can be accomplished by fur-
ther appeals," the Pontiac Democrat
said.
Mick Steiner, the General Motors
Corp. engineer leading the recall drive,
quipped that Mastin has "seen the
light" and said he is now gearing up for
a recall vote he believes will occur bet-
ween Dec. 4 and 19.
Mastin's decision followed by one day
the filing of petitions for a recall elec-
tion against a secon lawmaker - Sen.
David Serotkin, (D-Mount Clemens).
Serotkin said his own legal challenges
would be based on Mastin's decision.
Recall drives have been threatened
or are in progress against a dozen other
lawmakers who voted for the tax.
Among those targeted for recall are
State Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann Ar-
bor) and House Speaker Gary Owen (D-
Ypsilanti), whose names were added to
the list last week.
Citizens also sought to oust Governor
James Blanchard earlier this summer
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(refreshments will be served)
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