The Michigan Daily - Friday, May 11, 1984 - Page 7
Measles
epidemic
traced to
two local
cases
By MARLA GOLD
with wire reports
The State of Michigan leads the nation
in reports of measles this year, and
health officials say half of the 260 cases
in the state can be traced to two
measles cases in Ann Arbor.
The first occurred when a University
student living in Mary Markley dor-
mitory returned after Christmas break
with the disease, according to Dr. John
Atwater, Washtenaw County Health
Director.
THE SECOND local source of
measles was a winter wrestling meet at
Huron High School where an out-of-
state participant apparently spread the
disease to several contestanta from
Southeastern Michigan, Atwater said.
The participants in the Huron meet
then spread the epidemic to the city's
public schools and throughout other
counties, he added.
The University's Health Service
began their immunization program
soon after a second case was
discovered at Markley in February, ac-
cording to Judith Daniels, director of
Health Service nursing.
"We prevented a serious outbreak
because we responded so quickly, by
setting up immunization clinics in all of
the residence halls and at the Michigan
Union," she said. Over 1,600 students
were screened during the im-
munization, and 1,336 who were not
properly protected against the disease
received measles shots.
MEASLES IS spread when a person
inhales virus-laden droplets left in the
air by the infected person. Although
only two cases were confirmed on cam-
pus, Daniels said the disease was
treated as an epidemic because the
"high density population" of the cam-
pus and the ease with which a disease
could spread.
Without immunization, a person ex-
posed to measles has.a 90 percent chan-
ce of catching it. Even with the in-
noculation, there is still a 5 percent
chance of contracting the disease.
"It's been kind of a scary year as far
as measles go," said William Simon-
sen, chief of the state health depar-
tment immunization division. "We've
had more cases than any year since
1979."
There haven't been any measles
cases confirmed in Washtenaw County
since 16 were reported in January and
February, Atwater said. He credited
the combined efforts of the county and
the University for containing the out-
break.
But the measles outbreak is con-
tinuing elsewhere in the state. Since
last week, 11 cases have been reported
in Antrim County, in the northern part
of the state's Lower Peninsula.
One of the reason's for this year's
epidemic - 260 cases compared with
only 43 last year - may be the reduc-
tion of immunization services in the
state. In 1980 there were 24 im-
munization employees. Today there are
only eight.
Associated Press
Welding affair
A welder works on a viewing stand yesterday at the Louisiana World's Exposition in New Orleans. The 1984 World's
Fair is scheduled to begin tomorrow with the Space Shuttle Enterprise asa part of the United States' display.
RSG candidate appeals to MSA
By SUE BARTO
Kodi Abili won't give up.
The unsuccessful candidate for
president in last term's Rackham
Student Government elections asked
the Michigan Student Assembly this
week to review the March election.
RSG MEMBERS disqualified Abili
because they said he was campaigning
too close to a voting site during the elec-
tions. They decided to put away the
ballots without counting them and ap-
pointed Abili's opponent, Angela Gan-
tner, to the presidency.
Abili had threatened to file a lawsuit,
but after talking to Rackham ad-
ministrators he decided to appeal to
MSA's Central Student Judiciary.
But that board does not exist. "There
hasn't been a need for it," said MSA
Vice President Steve Kaplan. "No one
has brought a case for quite some
time."
UNDER THE MSA constitution, the
board should consist of 10 full-time
students serving one-year terms. It has
jurisdiction over the student gover-
nments in the various schools and
colleges and in University housing,
fraternities, sororities, and co-ops.
Kaplan said it would take at least
three weeks to interview applicants for
the judiciary, and because of the small
number of students now on campus he
said it may be impossible to hear the
case before fall. Applicants will be
solicited "by word of mouth" and
possibly in political science and law
classes, he said.
"If we can't find 10 (qualified studen-
ts)", Kaplan said, "the only thing we
can do is apologize to Abili and tell him
to wait until fall."
But Abili does not want to wait until
September. If the case is not heard this
summer, he said, "I will take it to
municipal court."
Abili wants a thorough investigation
of the election and said the elections
committee denied him due process by
not hearing his views before making its
decision.
The March election was the second
one conducted last term. Abili won the
first one, held in February, but its
results were thrown out amid charges
that both candidates broke the election
rules.
FCC reduces long-distance phone rates
WASHINGTON (AP) - Long-distance telephone rates
paid by most Americans must drop 6.1 percent by the end of
this month, federal regulators said yesterday in ordering the
first such reduction in 14 years.
In what was proclaimed "a landmark decision," the Federal
Communications Commission set a May 25 deadline for
American Telephone a & Telegraph Co. to begin charging the
lower rates to customers nationwide.
AT THE SAME time, the FCC said the company could soon
begin charging 50 cents each for long-distance directory-
assistance calls - after two free calls per month. And it sub-
stantially reduced the amounts AT&T must pay local phone
companies for using local lines in long-distance service.
The decision covers only long-distance rates, not rates
charged by local phone companies.
AT&T spokesman Pic Wagner said, "We welcome the
commission's action, which enables us to cut long-distance
rates. This is something we've wanted to do for a long time."
However, he said his company was disappointed the FCC
made no move to get rid of rules under which its long-
distance competitors pay less than AT&T for using local
telephone lines.
Long-distance rates charged to consumers by those com-
petitors - including such companies as MCI and GTE-Sprint
- are not controlled by the FCC.
How much the new order saves AT&T customers, who still
make up a clear majority of all long-distance callers, will
depend on how many calls an individual, family or business
makes. On a monthly bill of $20, for example, the saving
would be $1.22; on a bill of $50, it would be $3.05.
The commission said that after the main changes took ef-
fect, both AT&T and local companies - many of them Bell
companies split off in the recent AT&T divestiture - would
be able to earn the 12.75 percent rate of return that the FCC
has authorized.
Wagner disputed that as far as AT&T was concerned, but
he gave no indication the company would fight the order.
The main points of the FCC order included:
" Estimated long-distance savings of about $1.7 billion a .
year to AT&T customers.
* A reduction of about 8.5 percent - about $700 million a
year - in AT&T payments to local phone companies, and an
associated reduction of nearly $100 million for other long-
distance companies.
" New charges of as much as $6 per month per line to
businesses with more than one telephone line. Those
payments would be to the local companies.
* The long-distance directory-assistance charge, which the
commission estimated would bring AT&T about $140 million
a year.
The FCC had proposed earlier that in addition to the charge
of up to $6 for multi-line businesses there should be a $2 mon-
thly charge to individuals and families. But that has been put
off until at least next year.
Under the changes announced yesterday, AT&T customers
would pay about $1.3 billion a year in new or higher charges
while receiving the $1.7 billion rate reduction.
Making sure the overall reduction was greater than the in-
crease, FCC Commissioner Mimi Weyforth Dawson said,
"One would hope we wouldn't have a reduction that is so of-
fset by the additional cost to consumers that it's mooted."