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THE SEAHAWK/APRIL 19, 2DD1
Lung infection brouglitfitHn Spring Break spreads to 37 campuses
BY Susan FitzGerald
night-Ridder Newspapers
Federal health officials are investigating more
than 200cases of students who developed an acute
respiratory illness that they suspect is histoplas-
The students are from 37 colleges and univer
sities in 18 states, but nearly all of them had one
thing in common—they vacationed in Appilm ^
during March and stayed at or visited the r,-ilinH.i
Beach HoteUhere. according to the federal Cen
ters for Disease Control and Prevention.
The first outbreak was picked up by an alert
student health physician late last month at
Viljanoya, where 29 students got sick about two
weeks after returning home. Similar cases have
been identified from Massachusetts to Misjouri.
Locally, some studenbTat kutpersLljtiivprslty
Mulikpberg College in Allentown and Pennsyl
vania State University fell ill.
Histoplasmosis is a fungal disease that prima
rily affects the lungs and can be deadly in people
with other health problems. The fungal spores in-
Election, from page 1
Campaign violation charges unfounded
Lopez’s campaign received a formal chal
lenge from Faill supporter Sam Prestipino last
Tuesday. In a letter addres.sed to the SGA’s
Elections Board, Prestipino alleged that
Lopez’s campaign had violated several SGA
campaign policies.
Lopez was cited for a minor campaign vio
lation last Monday, before the Prestipino alle
gations surfaced. She was given a warning for
improper placement of campaign materials,
and fixed the problem quickly.
Prestipino claimed that Lopez had allowed
a fellow SGA legislator, Jessica Maher, to cam
paign on her behalf while performing SGA
duties; placed campaign materials improperly
(using stickers rather than staples or pins); cam
paigning near computer labs (polling areas);
and campaigning door-to-door at Galloway
Hall.
In the letter, Prestipino called for an “im-
volved thrive in dirt rich in bird and bat droppings
and can be breathed in when soil is disturbed.
‘There was some construction going on around
the hotel,” .said Dr. Rana Hajjeh, a CDC epidemi
ologist in Atlanta, who is heading the inve.stiga-
tion. But she said it would be premature to con
clude the hotel site was the source of the infection
because “the hotel is not the only link that is com-
She said there was al.so construction near cer
tain bars and nightclubs the students tended to fre
quent.
Hajjeh said CDC officials are in consultation
with the Mexico Mini.stry of Health, which is con
ducting its own investigation. The Calinda Beach
Hotel has not been shut down, she said.
While it saspects histoplasmosis, the CDC so
far has tentatively confirmed only one of the more
than 200 cases under inve.stigation, Hajijeh said.
That was from a lung biopsy done on a student at
Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Richard Pacropis, an internal medicine
speciali.st who directs .student health at Villanova,
set off a national alert among college campases
after he figured out what was likely bringing so
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mediate end to Ms. Lopez’s candidacy...we
have disqualified candidates for far less in the
past!” He referred to controversies surround
ing the last two pre.sidential eleptions at UNCW,
in which candidates were disqualified.
The Elections Board met last Wednesday
evening to discuss the allegations, and none of
them were sustained. “They were too vague to
be violations,” DeRenne said. She said that the
letter was not specific enough to conduct a full
investigation. “We did investigate some of
them,” DeRenne said, noting that witnesses
were called to the meeting.
The board determined that Maher’s actions
were out of Lopez’s control and that she acted
within SGA election regulations and the
UNCW Code of Student Life with regard to
the other three allegations. A letter sent to
Prestipino Monday night outlined the board’s
rationale.
“I don’t think there will be much uproar
about it,” DeRenne said.
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many students into his infirmary.
On March 28, a student came in with a high
fever, muscle aches, chest pain, dry coughing and
weakne.ss, and she was soon followed by otheri
with similar symptoms.
“We had 29 students over a four- to five-day
period,” .said Pacropis. Six of them ended up at
Bryn Mawr Hospital, where Pacropis is on staff.
In taking medical histories on the students, he
learned that all of them had spent the March 3-11
spring break in Acapulco.
They didn’t appear to have the more predict
able illnesses, such as flu or mononucleosis. But
chest X-rays revealed a fungal infection of the
lungs. Because the infection has a2 to 21/2- week
incubation period, the students had felt fine when
they first came back to campus.
Caris,sa Giardino, 21, a Villanova senior fiom
Doylestown, Pa., said she was among a group of
30 Villanova women who spent about $850 each
for a package deal that included airfare and a
week’s .stay at the Calinda Beach Hotel.
After getting back to classes, she began to ex
perience a high fever, muscle aches, fatigue “and
a lot of .soreness in the chest; it hurt to breathe
normally.”
When she didn’t get better after a week and
heard of a friend who had a suspected case of
histoplasmosis, she went to the emergency room
at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
The sickness wiped her out “I didn’t do anj-
thing but go to clas.ses for two weeks,” Gianlino
said.
Pacropis said the most seriously ill studems
were given a 28-day course of anti-fungal med-
cine. All 29 .students are now recovered.
Pacropis reported the cases of suspected his
toplasmosis to the Pennsylvania Health Depai-
ment, which entered the investigation and, in turn,
alerted the CDC.
From his students, he learned the names of
other colleges with students staying at the same
hotel and took it upon himself to alert their medi
cal directors. He said he has received calls from
around the counuy.
One Penn State student who stayed at ihe
Calinda Beach Hotel is now being evaluated fa
histoplasmosis, according to a university spokes
person.
Sam Miranda, head of student health at
Muhlenberg, said his center has identified seven
possible cases among students who spent spring
break in Acapulco. All are back to good health.
Hajjeh, of the CDC, .said histoplasmosis is a
disease that routinely pops up ardund the countiy,
particularly in areas such as the Ohio and Mis,sis-
sippi River valleys, where the soil is rich in the
fungus.
“We’ve had a lot of outbreaks,” .she said. “But
this i.s the first one of such multi-state magnitude.
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