Health news
Health center writes fewer prescriptions for antibiotics
Studies show many
viruses aren ’t affected
by the drugs previously
prescribed often for them
By Sarah Skidmore
Oregon Daily Emerald
Students with bronchitis com
ing to the University Student
Health Center may be surprised
by their treatment.
As the result of an effort led by
two health center doctors, the
amount of antibiotics being pre
scribed by the health center has
dropped by fifty percent since
last year.
“Most students grew up in the
age where antibiotics were the
common answer from doctors,”
said Dr, Paula Ciesielski of the
health center, “Doctors used to
see antibiotics as an option that
might not help but they won’t
hurt. That has been the assump
tion for the past 20 to 30 years.”
This assumption is not true,
Ciesielski said. Overuse of antibi
otics can cause viruses to devel
op a resistance to antibiotics and
can also cause side effects in
some patients.
After reviewing literature
about the topic last year, it be
came evident to Ciesielski and
Dr. Donna Scurlock that the or
ganisms that cause tire most com
mon infections are resistant to
the antibiotics frequently used to
treat them.
In 1997, the Journal of the
American Medical Association
showed that 47 percent of the pa
tients diagnosed with upper-res
piratory infections get antibiotics
and that 98 percent of these infec
tions are caused by viruses that
are not affected by antibiotics.
Antibiotics can have possible side
effects including: allergic reac
tions, colitis and yeast infections.
Ciesielski and Scurlock re
viewed the health center’s charts
and concluded that on average,
antibiotics were being over-pre
scribed, Ciesielski said. Their pri
mary focus was on bronchitis be
cause of the high number of
students that they regularly treat
for it and because bronchitis is
primarily viral, Ciesielski said.
The doctors held an education
al seminar for health center staff
to encourage a more aware atti
tude towards antibiotics. The
number of prescriptions for an
tibiotics have dropped by fifty
percent following the seminar,
Ciesielski said.
Although reducing antibiotic
use may be beneficial, many stu
dents have difficulty with the
change.
“Sometimes the message is
that you care more if you give a
prescription, but we do care,”
Ciesielski said.
Offering alternatives to antibi
otics such as cough syrups or in
halers and encouraging sleep and
drinking fluids are some of the
things that students may experi
ence.
"We want to do something for
everybody that comes in,”
Ciesielski said.
Reducing antibiotic use is rec
ommended by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Viruses developing resistance to
antibiotics is a national problem,
Ciesielski said.
Sarah Skidmore cot era the health
center, counseling center, alumni
association, AAA school and the
business school for the Emerald.
She can he reached via e-mail at
slskidm@gladstone. uoregon edu.
National campaign over union dues fizzles — except in Oregon
By Brad Cain
The Associated Press
SALEM — What began last year as a na
tionwide frontal assault on the fund-rais
ing abilities of labor unions has petered
out, leaving only a single costly fight in
Oregon.
Motivated by the $58 million labor
unions sank into 1996 federal campaigns
— 90 percent of which went to Democrats
— Republicans in more than a dozen
states had pushed for ballot measures and
bills that would curb unions’ ability to use
their dues for political purposes.
But the movement slowly lost momen
tum, particularly after California voters re
jected one initiative in June.
Measures didn’t make ballots in Col
orado, Florida and Nevada, and bills died
in several state legislatures, including
those of Arizona, Maryland, Mississippi
and Wisconsin.
Only Oregon will vote on the issue Nov.
3, deciding between two competing ballot
questions in a campaign that’s already
raised more than $2.2 million.
Measure 59, which is sponsored by GOP
gubernatorial candidate and anti-tax ac
tivist Bill Sizemore, would prohibit public
employee unions from collecting a part of
workers’ paychecks and using the money
for political purposes.
Unions are pushing Measure 62, which
would put into the state constitution the
right of unions to use some dues for poli
tics. But critics predict the measure will be
tossed out by the courts because it also
proposes other campaign finance reforms
and state law prohibits multipurpose bal
lot questions.
Labor laws vary from state to state, but
in general union officials may use a part of
dues on things besides contract negotia
tions, such as get-out-the-vote drives, cam
paign contributions and lobbying on labor
issues like the minimum wage and pen
sion protection.
Unions, like other organizations, may
also create political action committees that
collect money strictly for politics.
Most of the measures proposed have
aimed to make it more complicated for
unions to get permission from their mem
bers to take money for politics and make it
easier for members to ask for refunds if
they don’t want to participate. Some mea
sures, like Oregon’s, would have banned
the use of dues for politics outright.
So far, public employee unions have
raised $2 million to defeat Measure 59;
they predict they’ll have $4 million by
Election Day. The Measure 59 campaign
has raised $200,000.
Sizemore says the defeat in California,
where labor unions spent $15 million, has
made it more difficult for him to raise
money.
“The thought of being outspent by mil
lions of dollars intimidated our support
base,” he said.
Nonetheless, polls show a majority of
Oregon voters favor Sizemore’s measure,
although a union-financed television and
direct-mail campaign appears to be erod
ing that support.
“Support for his measure seems to be
dropping at a fairly rapid rate,” said Jim
Moore, who teaches political science at
the University of Portland. “Sizemore
might have a more clear message, but he
doesn’t have the money for a TV campaign.
The unions can pay for a powerful ad cam
paign.”
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