2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 19, 2003 NATION WORLD Global response to outbreaks urged NEWS IN BRIEF ' WASHINGTON (AP) - The Unit- originated in Asia. emerge, re-emerge and persist," the ed States is being urged to take the lead in global efforts to detect and counter new diseases, even as medical authorities work to determine the source of a mystery illness now report- ed in several countries. The new outbreak of an unknown illness reinforces the need for global surveillance and improved ability to move diagnostic work from remote set- tings to reference labs, James Hughes, head of the infectious disease division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said yesterday. Margaret Hamburg, chairwoman of the Institute of Medicine committee that prepared the new study, said: "Infectious diseases cross national bor- ders and require a global response." As if to prove that point, an urgent search is under way to isolate the causes of the new pneumonia- like illness, which appears to have So far, severe acute respiratory syn- drome has killed nine people, seven in Asia and two in Canada. More than 150 people, mostly in Hong Kong and Vietnam, have fallen ill, and World Health Organization officials said they are investigating possible cases in England, France, Israel, Slovenia and Australia, none of which previously had any. The illness' rapid spread caused a rare worldwide health alert to be issued Saturday by the WHO. "The United States should help lead efforts to reverse the complacency in industrialized countries" regarding infectious diseases, said Hamburg, vice president for biological programs at Nuclear Threat Initiative, a private group working to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. "Microbial threats continue to report said. "Others are previously known pathogens that are infecting new or larger groups or spreading into new geographic areas." Other new infections in recent years in the United States and abroad have included hantavirus, Nipah virus and West Nile virus. New infections are spread by the increasing ease and speed of travel and the continuing growth of cities, which bring huge numbers of people together. The ability of the U.S. medical establishment to track and respond to infectious diseases depends on a public health structure that has been neglect- ed for years, the report said. The CDC's Hughes noted that the new report is a follow-up of one done by the Institute of Medicine in 1992. "We've made some progress, but at the same time today's report shows much work remains to be ww w " w w ww w ."- .. " ". -U-U- UUU - - sw .wU - - U -.....".......... .... U - -- UU - - ""-* "".V S U i~Se "" "M.!ai q !" f me ! ee """ ." a.sa . s" .. . s sef.mN."#..A i. * S S s r s"" "". f!i !ee e!e "". . " r "f. !r i"* se "i". .""t ". " s " a " i!! .".#* e!s## !"# "A#! !a#a " i i rIF " 7S 4 e ao a e " m IF ....."."s.. t"es!ie"""-"-""-"""". e... #".#t"e#ee. a-'-M-.. mr ! . i llrn Ua/be :e us*.......e..e. f.... et ..c.*s#.,"ai!OA s e e 0 0 a 0 0 -ed - ""lol* m 0a;i is e,#i t a m oaa#t !h#!A~ b" se eeees .smimeggsgmt t...""ct".......A!.... as 00e060606 tlt o ! s arr "ai" e .!i.*eri. ' " t " w' C *twtttt*@ tO ** CS bas a" i i.. ..." " " .! m! ms #i !" . r w "" "" "" " " " . .s ". ." .. .. ":.t" rr; "" A t# .! . R # Al it is" sfs """ .s" """ f"" "." s!" "". t. " f" ". !! s"" "llellisaafs." "" asaatfa"a aa a~saa~faa~: "saa" s 0 * " ": aem.!04 #a. " !""""s" ""f"""" "r"f.f" i !" !r "" "" f" t" . "" "" ." ." t" ". ""LA NNe done," he said. He said investments in public health capacity and bioterror preparedness complement those with dealing with naturally recurring infectious diseases. "We have an unprecedented oppor- tunity in the United States right now to rebuild our systems to deal with infec- tious diseases," he said. The new report urged federal, state and local governments to direct resources to rebuild and maintain the staff and facilities needed to detect and deal with new diseases. The CDC should work to improve reporting of infectious diseases by health care providers, including auto- mated electronic lab reporting, the report said. It also said the United States should help reduce the global health threat by working with the World Health Orga- nization, concentrating in particular on threats in developing countries. Palestinians create post of prime minister JERUSALEM (AP) - The Pales- tinian parliament created the post of prime minister yesterday, taking a major step toward U.S.-sought reforms and rebuffing Yasser Arafat's attempts to retain a say in forming the next Cabinet. In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed two top Hamas fugitives accused in a string of shootings and bombings that killed dozens of Israelis. In a separate incident, an 11-year-old boy attending a Gaza funeral was shot and critically injured. The gunbattles came as Palestinian legislators cast their ballots in a water- shed vote that signaled a further weak- ening of Arafat's influence - a process that began about a year ago amid growing dissatisfaction among Palestinians with his leadership. "It's the beginning of a transition - it is certainly a turning point and a qualitative shift in the political cul- ture," said legislator Hanan Ashrawi. "Now we have power-sharing that is clearly spelled out." Arafat has been wrangling with the increasingly assertive parliament over giving some of his sweeping powers to a prime minister but reluctantly agreed to create the new position under international pres- sure. Even with the reforms, howev- er, Arafat will retain control over security forces and peace talks with Israel. Mitchell charged in Smart abduction SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Prosecu- tors charged a self-proclaimed prophet and his wife yesterday with aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, disclosing for the first time details of the girl's nine-. month ordeal. Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee also were charged with burglary and attempted aggravated kidnapping - a charge stemming from what prosecutors said was an attempt to later abduct Eliza-. beth's 18-year-old cousin. "We are not dealing with just a religious zealot, we are dealing with a predatory sex offender," District Attorney David Yocom said in announcing the charges. Mitchell, 49, and Barzee, 57, could receive life in prison if convicted. They were scheduled to be arraigned today, and bail was set at $10 million each. Before yesterday's charges, no details had been released about any abuse Eliz- abeth, now 15, might have suffered dur- ing her disappearance. Prosecutors contend Mitchell, a drifter whose writings promote polygamy, entered the Smart home June 5 after using a knife to cut a win- dow screen. Elizabeth was forced at knifepoint to walk up a mountain trail behind the Smart family home to a concealed campsite, according to court papers. Mitchell threatened to harm or kill the girl's family members if she resis- +,-A t r are eni "Ch- m-ac - A a.. Cuba rounded up several dozen dissidents and confirmed new restrictions on U.S. diplomats, the government said late yesterday amid worsening relations between the two countries. An official statement on state television accused the chief of Washington's diplomatic mission in Havana, James Cason, of trying "to foment the internal counterrevolution." The statement continued: "No nation, no matter how powerful, has the right to organize, finance and serve as a center for subverting the constitutional order." Offices at the U.S. Interests Section were closed late yesterday and attempts to reach American diplomats were unsuccessful. The U.S. State Department last week had reported the travel restrictions on its diplomats in Havana, but the Cuban government did not confirm the new measures until yesterday. In Washington, a State Department official said they had not seen the announced measures but would look into them. Havana's actions are just the latest in an increasingly ugly exchange of words between the two governments, which have had no regular diplomatic relations for more than four decades. The announcement said several dozen government oppo- nents had been detained but did not elaborate or say if any charges pending. NEW YORK Oil prices fall to lowest level since January The price of oil plunged 9 percent yesterday, falling to its lowest level in more than two months as traders bet that the impending United States invasion of Iraq will go smoothly and that global stockpiles of crude are sufficient to offset any supply dis- ruptions. The April futures contract fell $3.26 to $31.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since Jan. 8. However, with U.S. supplies low and uncertainty in the Middle East high, traders said petroleum prices likely will remain volatile in the short term. "This thing could go right back up," said Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas in New York. "We're still vulnerable because inventories are tight." The most recent Energy Department data showed commercial stockpiles of crude at 269.8 million barrels, 18 percent below year ago levels. Supplies have dwindled as a result of high demand for heating oil in the Northeast and fewer imports from Venezuela, whose oil industry was crippled for months by a nationwide strike. Yet Bentz and other traders mostly expressed confidence yesterday that the loss of Iraqi crude could be made up elsewhere and that the U.S. government will tap its own 600 million barrel stockpile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in the event of a supply emergency. 0 HAVANA Cuba restricts travel of U.S. diplomats CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas Jrclears Bayer in $560 million lawsuit A jury yesterday cleared Bayer Corp. of liability in a $560 million law- suit that accused the pharmaceutical giant of ignoring research linking the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol to dozens of deaths. The jury deliberated for 2 1/2 days before returning the verdict. It was the first of about 8,000 cases against Bayer to go to trial. "The verdict validates Bayer's asser- tion that the company acted responsibly in the development, marketing and vol- untary withdrawal of Baycol," Bayer said in a statement. # The lawsuit was brought by Hollis Haltom, an 82-year-old engineer who said a muscle-wasting disease caused by Baycol severely weakened his legs. His lawyers had produced e-mails and internal documents to argue that Bayer didn't adequately warn doctors about the possible side effects of the drug before it was pulled off the market. WASHINGTON Formula calculates the risk of smoking How long and how much you smoked, and how long it's been since the last puff, make a difference in the risk of getting lung cancer. Scientists have come up with a formu- la that certain smokers and ex-smokers can use to calculate that risk - one that could help people decide if they really want a controversial test for lung cancer. The formula, published in this week's Journal of the National Cancer Insti- tute, shows a wide variation in risk. Consider a 51-year-old woman who smoked a pack a day since she was 14 until stopping nine years ago. The formu- la puts her chances of getting lung cancer in the next 10 years at less than 1 in 100. Compare a 68-year-old man who smoked two packs a day since he was 18 and hasn't yet quit. He has a 1 in 7 chance of lung cancer by his 78th birth- day if he keeps puffing. If he quit smok- ing today, the risk drops slightly. LONDON Parliamentary vote favors war with Iraq Britain's House of Commons backed Prime Minister Tony Blair's policy on Iraq yesterday, voting in favor of using "all means necessary" in order to disarm Saddam Hussein. In an earlier vote,lawmakers also supported Blair, rejecting a motion to oppose a U.S.-led war with Iraq. Yet many rebel legislators in Blair's Labor Party voted against his hard-line stance on Baghdad - which prompted three ministers to resign this week - showing that opposition to his pro-war position remains strong. With a U.S.-led war appearing inevitable, British legislators voted 396 to 217 to defeat a parliamentary amendment by Labor Party rebels that declared the case for war "has not yet been established." The 217 votes included about 138 Labor Party backbenchers, TV reports said. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. 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