The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - 3A
GARY, Ind.
Police: Indiana
man confesses to
seven murders
Police say an Indiana man has
now definitively confessed to
killing seven women whose bod-
ies were found over the weekend
in northwestern Indiana.
Gary Police Chief Larry
McKinley also told a news con-
ference that authorities have
enough evidence to charge Dar-
ren Vann, 43, with murder in
at least three more of the cases
involving bodies discovered in
abandoned buildings around the
city over the weekend. McKinley
said those charges were expect-
ed to be filed within a few days. .
Vann was arrested over the
weekend after a missing per-
son's report led police to a body
in a bathtub at a Motel 6 in Ham-
mond. He confessed to that mur-
der and directed police to six
more bodies. The first murder
charge was filed against him on
Monday.
NEBRASKA
Journalist who
contracted Ebola
now recovering
The freelance cameraman who
contracted Ebola while working
with NBC in Liberia is now dis-
ease free, he tweeted today.
Ashoka Mukpo was transport-
ed from Liberia to the Nebraska
Medical Center's biocontainment
center on Oct. 6.
The medical center announced
today that he was free of the dis-
ease and would be released from
the hospital on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old made the
announcement himself, tweeting
that he is "Ebola free and feeling
so blessed."
FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash.
Newborn Puget
Sound killer whale
0 presumed dead
A killer whale born to much
hope in early September appar-
ently died while its pod was in
the open ocean off Washington or
British Columbia, the Center for
Whale Research said.
The baby was the first known
calf born since 2012 to a popula-
tion of endangered orcas that
frequent Puget Sound in Wash-
ington state.
It has not been seen since its
pod returned in recent days to the
inland waters of western Wash-
ington, said the center's Ken Bal-
comb.
"The baby is gone," he said
Tuesday.
The pod was offshore for a
week to 10 days, and the orca des-
ignated L-120 might have been
lost in a storm in the middle of
last week, Balcomb said.
TEHRAN, IRAN
Iran president
pledges to back
f Iraq amid attacks
Shiite powerhouse Iran has
pledged enduring support for the
Shiite-led government of Iraq in
its battle against an ascendant
Sunni insurgency spearheaded by
the Islamic State group.
Iranian President Hassan Rou-
hani told visiting Iraqi Prime
Minister Haidar al-Abadi on
Tuesday that Iran has supported
Baghdad "from the first day and
will remain on that path until the
last day," according to a report by
the official IRNA news agency.
Later, the state news agency
reported that Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has
final say on all state matters, told
al-Abadi that he considered the
security of Iraq and Iran "insepa-
rable."
The Iran-Iraq alliance high-
lights some of the complex politi-
cal dynamics spawned by the
t emergence of the Islamic State
group as a major threat earlier
this year.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
MAYOR
From Page 1A
the government should be con-
cerned with.
"As mayor, I would seek to
attract the right kind of talent to
the city. I don't just want 'young
professionals' because of their
youth or their moneymaking
ability. I want young people-
all people, really-who show a
respectfor the environment, who
see great value in small- to mid-
sized city life, and who genuinely
fit in with the larger goals of Ann
Arbor: kindness, sustainability,
community," Kelly said. "We are
fortunate to be able to live here,
and the right kind of people will
see that."
Taylor said, as mayor, he would
work to balance the needs of the
older, long-term Ann Arborites,
as well as students and young-
adult residents. For example, he
advocates for ride-sharing ser-
vices like Uber and Lyft, which
largely appeal to the population
of students and recent graduates.
He said Uber and Lyft are the
types of organizations that bring
young people to a city. The push-
back, however, following the
Uber and Lyft apps launching
in Ann Arbor, has been strong.
Those opposing these services
are often traditional taxi drivers
in Ann Arbor, who must con-
form to a number of regulations
to retain their licenses. Council-
members who oppose creating a
resolution that would make these
services legal within the city of
Ann Arbor feel the services are
unsafe and require further reg-
ulation, which to many would
defeat the ease and purpose of
these types of services.
Another issue Taylor said is
important for drawing in and
retaining young professionals
is the city's culture and values,
which could range anywhere
from the city's unique character
and the types of events, concerts
and festivals held in the city, to
how environmentally friendly
a city is. Taylor supports Ann
Arbor's current climate action
plan, and said he would continue
to do so as mayor.
At Monday's City Council
meeting, an $85,000 contract
between the city and the Clean
Energy Coalition was unani-
mously approved - a decision
that was emblematic of the coun-
cil's commitment to addressing
environmental issues. The origi-
nal decision, however, to allocate
$125,000 from the city's general
budget, among other sources,
was heavily contested and only
passed with a 6-5 vote. Taylor
voted in support of both deci-
sions, and the city's new contract
with the CEC will reduce only
non-University-caused carbon
emissions.
"It's great that we have some
city funding to do this work,
though I think our challenges
are that city-wide we spend
$250 million on natural gas and
electricity, so there are pure
economic reasons to do this,
in addition to all of the carbon
benefits that come along with
figuring out ways for people to
reduce their energy," said Matt
Naud, city environmental coor-
dinator.
Taylor's plan to increase job
opportunities and economic
growth rests in his support of
SPARK, a city-funded organiza-
tion that aims to create entre-
preneurial growth and further
advance Ann Arbor's econo-
my. The renewal of SPARK's
$75,000 contract was heavily
debated at first, and the deci-
sion was tabled until September
when it was approved by a 8-3
vote.
MICROBES
From Page 1A
medicine has triggered changes
that are leading to new diseases.
Blaser said understanding this
phenomenon is key for reversing
the current situation.
"We have believed so much in
antibiotics that wherever we've
gone we have taken a box with
us and people accept it because
antibiotics can be life saving," he
said. "They can help in so many
severe cases. But none of us have
been measuring what are the
side effects - what are the down
sides?"
Blaser is a member of the
eight-member external advi-
sory committee composed of
non-University professors and
medical specialists that will be
reviewing the Host Microbiome
Initiative's work Wednesday.
Thomas Schmidt, a profes-
sor of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology, is one lab leader at the
Center for Microbial Studies. He
said the difference between the
Center and the Host Microbiome
Initiative is that the latter focus-
es solely on human microbes
while the former also deals
with microbes found beyond the
human body in aquatic, terrestri-
al environments and engineered
systems.
"One of the missions of the
Center is to educate and engage
in discussions in discussions of
the microbial world," Schmidt
said.
He added that he appreciated
gaining Blaser's perspective and
expertise to the public during his
visit to the University.
Blaser read excerpts about
the effects of widespread use by
pregnant woman of the drugs
Diethylstilbestrol, or DES, and
Thalidomide, both developed
in 1950s. He said these drugs
never had a lot of scientific
basis to support them, but were
marketed very well leading to
overconsumption. DES in par-
ticular, whose symptoms became
apparent many years later, is an
example of an instance where
antibiotic's potential side effects
may not be initially apparent.
Blaser noted that probiot-
ics, which are organisms and
microbes inside foods that
when consumed provide appar-
ent benefits, are usually safe but
are largely untested and more
research should be conducted
on them. He added that in addi-
tion to medication, humans often
ingest antibiotics when they con-
sume meat and dairy after the
animals have been given food
supplemented with antibiotics.
He added that people who
have minimal exposure to or
have never come in contact with
antibiotics should see how unaf-
fected microbes look to better
understand the full impact of the
mutation.
"One of the problems is anti-
biotics are everywhere - in all
the developing countries in the
world," Blaser said.
He emphasized the difficulty
in finding a person that was com-
pletely not-exposed to antibiot-
ics.
Assistant Medical Prof. Vin-
cent , Young said the University
will allocate approximately $3
million per year for the next five
years to the Host Microbiome
Initiative.
He added that this is major
initiative both in health and dis-
eases and noted that people often
wrongly assume that the Medi-
cal School mostly deals with
treating diseases.
"The opposite is probably
more true with the microbiome;
it has ways of keeping us healthy
and if we really understand that
then that's really even more
powerful than trying to find new
ways to treatthings," Young said.
EBOLA
From Page 1A
ongoing progress of developing
a protocol to handle a potential
Ebola patient.
"If there is a suspect case, the
leadership of the University, Dr.
Winfield, and the hospitals sys-
tem will be immediately noti-
fied," Wells said. "The Public
Health Department will work
to immediately assess risk, and
they will work in partnership
with the state health depart-
ment and the CDC to determine
that level of risk."
From that point forward,
treatment depends on whether
or not the patient shows symp-
toms. If they were exhibiting
symptoms, the patient would
be put into isolation under the
supervision of infectious disease
experts. In the event that the
patient were a student, decisions
regarding their course of treat-
ment would be determined by
the Public Health Department,
the CDC, and the local hospital
system.
If a student were to return
from an infected region, and
did not exhibit symptoms, they
would still need to be placed ina
quarantine with constant moni-
toring until the 21-day incuba-
tion period - the longest time
an individual can experience
between initial exposure and
exhibiting symptoms - of the
virus has ended.
Internal Medicine Prof. San-
dro Cinti, a specialist in infec-
tious diseases, confirmed what
experts have said about the dis-
ease in Michigan - namely that
the threat is extremelylow- but
said UMHS is preparing any-
ways.
"We have been preparing
since we knew there is a pos-
sibility that somebody from
(West Africa) could come in and
so what we are preparing for is
making sure we catch any poten-
tial patient as early as possible
and then isolate that patient and
protect our healthcare workers,"
Cinti said.
According to Winfield, a
potential Ebola patient would
immediately be placed in an iso-
lation room to prevent spread of
the disease to other patients or
hospital staff. UMHS currently
has 32 isolation beds, which are
generally used for respiratory
infectious disease. While UMHS
- along with any other major
health system - must prepare
for the possibility of admitting
an Ebola patient, current U.S.
cases are being treated at only a
small handful of medical centers
with specialized biocontain-
ment units.
Winfield said the exact loca-
tion where a potential Ebola
patient would be treated at
UMHS is still under discussion.
"There is no existing Ebola
unit at this time," Winfield said
in an interview with The Michi-
gan Daily.
Last week, the Michigan
Nurses Association expressed
concern that nurses across the
state were not properly trained
to handle asuspected Ebola case.
"MNA is working aggres-
sively with our nurses and their
employers to ensure that RNs
have the proper equipment,
training and staffing to safely
care for individuals with Ebola,"
the association wrote in the
release.
Winfield said the nurses at
UHS will be trained this week
and they will follow the CDC's
protocol of handling an Ebola
patient.
Sandro Cinti said the health
system as a whole is currently
working to establish a team of
hospital staff that would treat
an Ebola case. Administrators
are taking particular care to
ensure staff are well-trained in
the use of PPE - personal pro-
tective equipment - which is
critical in stopping the spread
of the disease. A breach of PPE
protocol is thought to have led
to the infection of two nurses in
Dallas who treated Duncan, the
Liberian man who died from
Ebola despite receiving pal-
liative treatment in the United
States.
The size of the team and the
amount of time that a healthcare
worker would spend with the
patient in an isolation unit have
not yet been determined.
"There will be a limited num-
ber of workers working with
Ebola patient and they will be
chosen based on the CDC crite-
ria," Cinti said.
Additionally, EMS staff is
training for a scenario where an
Ebola patient shows up at a clinic
instead of at the hospital. Primary
concerns for EMS protecting the
drivers and paramedics, as well as
decontaminating the vehicle car-
rying the infected patient.
"The plan has primarily
focused around the emergency
department and staff," Winfield
said.
Last week, the University's
Emergency Department held a
training session in conjunction
with St. Joseph Mercy Hospital
involving a mock patient.
The cooperation and com-
munication between health
units in Washtenaw County
- including the University, St.
Joseph Mercy Health System,
and both the local and state
health departments - makes
this region particularly efficient
in both emergency planning and
response, Wells said, something
many counties throughout the
U.S. struggle with.
Organizations such as the
Washtenaw County Medical
Society, which brings together
representatives from each of
these organizations to foster
quick and coordinated proce-
dures, put the region in a good
position to combat risks associ-
ated with the virus.
At the moment, officials are
confident that these measures,
as well as continued prepara-
tion efforts, will prove sufficient
in combating the threat. Wells
said it is important for the public
to stay informed on the threat,
but encouraged them not to get
distracted by various theories,
misunderstandings, and perhaps
even conspiracy theories that
appearthroughsocial media and
other outlets.
Obama requires five U.S.
airports to up Ebola checks
People flying from
threeAfrican countries
must come through
specific airports
WASHINGTON (AP) - Fend-
ing off demands to ban travel
from Ebola-stricken West Afri-
ca; the Obama administration
instead tightened the nation's
defenses against Ebola by
requiring that all arrivals from
the disease-ravaged zone pass
through one of five U.S. airports.
The move responds to pres-
sure from some Congress mem-
bers and the public to impose a
travel ban on the three coun-
tries at the heart of the Ebola
outbreak, which has killed over
4,500 people, mostly in Liberia,
Guinea and Sierra Leone, since it
emerged 10 months ago.
Beginning Wednesday, peo-
ple whose trips began in Guinea,
Liberia or Sierra Leone must fly
into one of the five U.S. airports
performing fever checks for
Ebola, the Homeland Security
Department said.
Previously, the administra-
tion said screenings at those air-
ports covered about 94 percent
of fliers from the three countries
but missed a few who landed
elsewhere.
There are no direct flights
from those nations into the U.S;
about 150 fliers per day arrive by
various multi-leg routes.
Homeland Security Secretary
Jeh Johnson said "we currently
have in place measures to iden-
tify and screen anyone at all land,
sea and air ports of entry into the
United States who we have rea-
son to believe has been presentin
Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea
in the preceding 21 days."
SincescreeningstartedOct.11
at New York's Kennedy airport,
562 people have been checked
at the five airports, according
to Homeland Security. Of those,
four who arrived at Washing-
ton's Dulles airport were taken
to a local hospital. No cases of
Ebola have been discovered.
The other airports are New-
ark's Liberty, Chicago's O'Hare
and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.
Homeland Security officials
at the airports use no-touch
thermometers to check for fever,
which can be a symptom of Ebola
infection. People who have been
infected with the virus may not
develop a fever and illness for up
to 21 days, however.
As the U.S. closed a gap in its
Ebola screening, an Ebola-free
African country said it would
begin checking visiting Ameri-
cans for the disease.
Rwanda's health minister
said Tuesday that travelers who
have been in the United States or
Spain - the two countries out-
side ofWestAfricathathave seen
transmission during the Ebola
outbreak - will be checked upon
arrival and must report on their
health during their stay.
No Ebola cases have been
reported in Rwanda, which is in
East Africa. The U.S. Embassy in
Rwanda said that country is ban-
ning visitors who have recently
traveled to Guinea, Liberia, or
Sierra Leone, the three coun-
tries at the heart of the outbreak,
as well as nearby Senegal, which
had a single case
The change in U.S. policy falls
short of demands by some elect-
ed officials and candidates for a
ban ontravel from the West Afri-
can outbreak zone. Sen. Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., described the
action as an "added layer of pro-
tection against Ebola entering
our country."
The change comes as the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention works to spread the
word about its new protective
guidelines for medical workers.
The advice, released Monday
night, had been sought by health
workers after two Dallas nurses
were infected while caring for a
Liberian traveler, the first per-
son diagnosed with the virus in
the United States.
The CDC said it's still unclear
exactly how the nurses were
infected, but the stronger rules
will provide better protection.
CDC officials demonstrated
the recommended techniques
Tuesday at a training session
for several thousand health care
workers in New York City.
New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo urged the health-care
workers there to use their train-
ing to educate their families and
communities.
"Keep the anxiety down.
Keep the fear down," he said.
Earlier CDC guidelines
allowed hospitals some flex-
ibility to use available covering
when dealing with suspected
Ebola patients. The new guide-
lines set a firmer standard, call-
ing for full-body garb and hoods
that protect worker's necks; set-
ting rigorous rules for removal
of equipment and disinfection
of hands; and calling for a "site
manager" to supervise the put-
ting on and taking off of equip-
ment.
CSG
From Page 1A
of the new resolution. "So, we
wanted to give the assembly
something to work with."
"We wanted this to be some-
thing a little bit more than just a
sympathetic showing of support
from the entire student body,"
said LSA senior Michael Chrzan,
School of Education representa-
tive, in reference to the change.
org petition. He later proposed
a campus event in tandem with
the resolution.
The Change.org petition was
one of the first started after the
shooting of Brown and it calls
for national change to protect
people against police violence.
Currently, the petition has more
than 200,000 signatures.
CSG members expressed con-
cerns with the resolution's sup-
port of the seven policies within
Shaun King and the Defender's
petition.
"Are the authors open to
writing some different policy
solutions as there may be some
issues with these?" CSG presi-
dent Bobby Dishell, a Public
Policy senior, asked during the
meeting.
Dishell had concerns about
two of the policy solutions.
One of the solutions states that
chokeholds and chest com-
pressions should be federally
banned. Dishell pointed out that
chest compressions are often
used to save people's lives.
Another solution in the peti-
tion calls for a third party busi-
ness to monitor videos from
cameras worn by policemen
while on duty. Dishell noted
that third parties are not always
trustworthy.
CSG representatives had
issues with another policy,
which proposes mandatory for-
ward-facing cameras for police-
men on duty. The cost of the
cameras, approximately $99 per
camera, was seen as being too
expensive for some towns.
The resolution against police
brutality was referred to the
resolutions committee. The leg-
islation will be reviewed by the
committee and then the assem-
bly will vote on the proposal in
the following meeting.
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