IT
Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL. 25, NO. 5
FEB. 3, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
Child treated for rare immune deficiency
By David Williamson
Each time Ricky tries to pull the masks
from the faces of the doctors and nurses
who care for him here, he risks
contracting an infection that could end'
his life.
But the child, who suffers from severe
combined immunodeficiency disease
(SCID), doesn't know any better. He is
only 11 months old, and exploring comes
naturally to him.
Ricky lives in isolation on Rankin Ward,
a clinical research unit supported by the
National Institutes of Health. A plexiglass
shield resembling a large telephone booth
surrounds his crib, and a continuing wave
of filtered air pushes disease agents
downstream from him.
He is a victim of the same hereditary
condition that kept a Texas boy named
David in a germ-free bubble for his first
six years. David recently received
national attention when NASA designed
a miniature "space suit" that gives him a
chance to move out of his bubble for up to
four hours at a time.
Both children were born with defective
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immune systems, the body's mechanism
for fighting the countless infectious
organisms that humans ingest, one way
or another, every day. Neither has
compatible donors of bone marrow that
could cure their illness.
While doctors in Houston say they
haven't treated David and don't plan to
until a proven therapy becomes available,
Ricky is currently undergoing what Duke
physicians believe to be the most
promising treatment.
Injections stimulate white
blood cell growth
Dr. Rebecca Buckley, a professor of
pediatrics, said she and Dr. Donald
Perlman have been injecting fetal liver
cells into the child's abdomen in an
attempt to stimulate the growth of white
blood cells that create antibodies against
disease.
Ricky's brother Jamie, who was also
born with SCID, was treated similarly
here in 1974, Buckley said. Now four
years old, he lives at home in Ohio, has
almost normal immunities and is the
world's longest surviving fetal liver
transplant recipient.
Jamie's health has not been perfect, the
pediatrician said, but it has been good
considering that the maximum life
(Continued on page 4)
A SONG IN HIS HEART — Eleven-month-old
Ricky lives in isolation on the Clinical Research
Unit, but he's surrounded by carefully dressed
friends. At left, he seems to be chatting with
Drs. Donald Perlman (left) and Rebecca
Buckley, who have been giving him injections
of fetal liver cells in an effort to build up his
immune system. Below, head nurse Kathy
Callahan, who is trying to feed Ricky his
breakfast, competes with the photographer for
the child's attention. (Photos hy jim Wallace)
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Students, teachers pleased
with experimental curriculum
By John Becton
Everyone associated with the
Biomedical Interdisciplinary Curriculum
Project (BICP) knows that the real value
of the program can't be measured for four
or five more years, but after one
semester, some positive indicators are
beginning to appear.
The BICP was begun this fall in four
North Carolina high schools as an
experiment in laying an educational
foundation specifically designed for
students whose interests and aptitudes
are leading them toward health
professions. (See Intercom, 9/9/77.)
Positive reactions
Students and teachers are enthusiastic
about the project.
"I think it's fantastic!" was the
assessment of Tommy Alexander, a
junior at Rockingham's Richmond Senior
High.
"It's challenged some p>eople who
haven't been challenged before,"
according to Glenn Hood, one of the team
of BICP teachers at Harnett Central High
in Angier.
"The students are highly motivated,"
Richmond High Principal Herman
Williams added, "because for one thing,
their interest came first. They asked for
this. We had 170 who expressed interest
and had to narrow them down to 26."
Introduction to health field -
The two-year curriculum is not a
(Continued on page 3)