VOLUME 22, NUMBER 12
WE KNEW IT WAS THERE SOMEWHERE—The sun broke through the gray heavens
on Wednesday, ending, at least temporarily, the late winter installment of the
region's monsoons. The sudden appearance of Apollo brought smiles to
rain-clouded faces and songs to water-weary hearts. Hopefully, this time old
Tick Tjrphus
Rise Warned
By David Williamson
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is on
the rise across America, and the
potentially lethal disease is more likely
to strike in North Carolina and Virginia
than in any other states.
With spring and the tick season
coming on, those are the grim tidings of
Dr. William D. Bradford, an associate
professor of pathology.
Bradford said the United States
Public Health Service figures show a 21
per cent jump in reported cases in 1974
over the figures available for 1973. More
than half of the 774 cases last year were
recorded in the South Atlantic states
with North Carolina and Virginia being
particularly hard hit.
The Piedmont regions of these states,
characterized by a large population
density, well-vegetated rolling hills and
pine forests, suffered the most.
■^in the South Atlantic states. Rocky
Mountain Spotted Fever is transferred
by the common dog tick, Dermacentor
varlabilis. Bradford said that infection
occurs primarily in the late spring and
summer months and corresponds to the
prevalence of the ticks. It is caused by
an intracellular parasite occupying a
biological position between bacteria
and filtrable viruses.
While the microorganism doesn't
harm the tick, in humans it brings on
muscle pain, chills, vomiting, headache,
light sensitivity, prostration and
eventual cardiovascular and respiratory
collapse, the Duke pathologist
explained.
Women and children are the usual
victims. Bradford said it's not clear to
him why, but 'it's statistically true.
Children, of course, are outside a lot
anyway, and they also get the ticks from
their pets. As for the women, " he said,
"maybe they're out doing yard work
more than men. "
Also known as "tick typhus," Rocky
Mountain Spotted Fever was called
"black measles" by white settlers in the
Bitter Root Valley of Montana where it
earned its present name in 1906,
Bradford said. Earlier. Shoshone
Indians who inhabited the region
recognized that an illness caused by
evil spirits increased in the spring and
summer, but didn't realize it was spread
by ticks.
Howard Taylor Ricketts, the
pathologist who first studied the
transmission of the disease, later died
of typhus while carrying on further
studies in Mexico.
What can one do to guard against this
(Continued on page 4)
Momma Nature will give us a break long enough to get the pole beans and okra
started without drowning. The forecast? Your guess is as good as ours. (Photo by
William Erwin)
ntcKcom
duke univcRsity mc6icM ccnteR
MARCH 21,1975
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Two-Day Agenda Covers Broad Spectrum
Board of Visitors Meeting Here
The medical center’s top advisory
body, the Board of Visitors, is
assembling here today and tomorrow
for its annual meeting.
A wide range of subjects — from
Duke community outreach programs to
a report on women in medicine — fills
the two-day agenda.
The board meets in a final executive
session tomorrow morning. A progress
report by Dr. William G. Aniyan. vice
president for health affairs, on the
board's 1974 recommendations was the
subject of an executive session at the
opening of today’s meeting.
Other topics on this morning's
session include;
* ‘Nursing Education ’ by Dean Ruby
Wilson.
* "The Bragtown/Rougemont/
Bahama Project — A Total Interaction
With a Rural Community" by Dr. Harvey
Estes and Dr. Eva Saiber.
* "Women in Medicine " by Dr. Shirley
Osterhout and Dr. Mary Ann Forciea.
* "Area Health Education Centers
(AHEC)" by Dr. Thomas Frothingham
and Stanley Morse.
* "Scholarships and Loans. Medical
and Allied Health " by Nell Marshall.
* ‘Report of the Director of Medical
and Allied Health Education and Report
on President's Biomedical Research
Panel" by Dr. Ewald W. Busse.
During the afternoon session,
subjects will be;
* “Progress Report on Duke Hospital
North" by JaneElchlepp.
* “Financial and Personnel
Management" by Dr. Stuart Sessoms,
John Shytle, Richard Peck, Peyton
Fuller and Wilma Minniear and Henry E.
Rauch.
The chairman of the Board of Visitors
is Dr. Kenneth R. Crispell, vice president
for health sciences at the University of
Virg i nia School of Med icine.
Other members are;
—Karl D. Bays of Evanston, III.,
president of American Hospital Supply
Corp.
—Edward H. Benenson of Benenson
Funding Corp., New York City.
—Dr. Earl W. Brian of the Department
of Community Medicine and Public
Health at UCLA.
—Shirley S. Chater. assistant vice
chancellor, academic affairs, and
professor of nursing at the University of
California in San Francisco.
—Dr. John A.D. Cooper, president of
the Association of American Medical
Colleges. Washington.
—Dr. Harry Eagle of Albert Einstein
College of Medicine.
—James R. Felts Jr., executive
director of the Hospital and Child Care
Sections of the Duke Endowment.
—Dr. Loretta Ford, dean of the
School of Nursing at the University of
Rochester.
—Dr. C. Henry Kempe, director of the
National Center for the Prevention and
(Continued on page 4)
Bays To Open Spring Nursing
Program With Carter Lecture
A university trustee who is also
chairman of the board of the American
Hospital Supply Corporation will deliver
the annual Harriet Cook Carter Lecture
to kick-off the Spring Nursing Program
scheduled for April 3-6 on the Duke
campus.
Karl D. Bays will speak on “The
Impact of the Economic-Energy Crisis
on the Delivery of Health Care Services"
at 4 p.m., April 3, in the Hospital
Amphitheater.
Dr. Ruby Wilson, dean of the School
of Nursing, will preside at the lecture,
which is open to the public at no
charge, and Wilma A. Minniear, director
of nursing at the hospital, will introduce
the speaker.
The Carter Lectureship was
established in 1969 "to honor and hold
in constant memory" Harriet Cook
Carter, a "compassionate and
unusually creative lady who endeared
herself to Duke University and the
Durham community through her
widespread activities
Mrs. Carter, who died in 1968, was a
nurse, an honorary member of the
Alurrmae Association of the School of
KARLO. BAYS