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."