UO to adopt new
vaccine to combat
risk of meningitis
BY EMILY SMITH
NEWS REPORTER
The University Health Center will re
place its current meningitis vaccine
with the new, more expensive vaccine,
Menactra, which the Food and Drug
Administration approved Jan. 14. The
Centers for Disease Control and Pre
vention recommends that college
freshmen who live in residence halls
get the new vaccination.
Health center officials are dis
cussing whether the new vaccine will
be required.
Menactra will cost students at least
$10 more per shot than Menomune,
the $80-per-shot vaccine the University
currently uses, and student health in
surance does not cover vaccines.
Health center Director Tom Ryan
said the University is working with the
drug manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, to
trade the $2,000 worth of Menomune
in stock for the new vaccine in an ef
fort to avoid wasting student money.
Both Menactra and Menomune
protect against four of the five
serogroups of meningococcus; how
ever, neither provide immunity
against serogroup B, which Ryan said
“causes almost 50 percent of
meningococcal infections in Oregon.”
That percentage is lower nation
wide. While Menomune lasts about
three to five years, Menactra can be
used as a booster, and, Ryan said, “re
search suggests a longer duration of
activity ... three to five times longer.”
While infants under age 1 are most
at risk, the FDA reports that the num
ber of meningitis cases peak, again dur
ing adolescence and young adulthood.
College freshmen living in dorms are
six times more likely to be infected
with the debilitating illness than others
of the same age, according to the CDC.
A required dose of Menactra could
have prevented the death of Jill
Dieringer, a University freshman living
in the residence hails who died of
meningitis in 2001. Living in close
proximity to others in her sorority, her
infection could have easily spread to
other students on campus.
In 2003, the death of one Eugene
high school student and the illness of
another were caused by bacterial
meningitis linked to a show at WOW
Hall that both girls attended. While the
disease isn’t airborne like a cold or flu,
activity involving the exchange of res
piratory or throat secretions, such as
sharing kitchen utensils, cigarettes or
kissing, can pass it from one person to
another. In addition to the high risk for
students living in close quarters, stu
dents who smoke and frequent bars
also show higher rates of infection.
If the virus form causes‘the illness,
it’s less severe and may resolve itself.
The bacterial form, however, must be
treated immediately with antibiotics.
The health center offers free antibiotics
to students who have been exposed to
meningitis. Treatment may reduce the
risk of death to less than 15 percent.
According to Sanofi Pasteur, the most
common adverse reactions to Menac
tra include “pain, redness, and indura
tion,” or hardening of the skin at the
site of injection, as well as “headache,
fatigue and malaise.” The vaccine is
not recommended to anyone “with
known hypersensitivity to any compo
nent of the vaccine or to latex, which
is used in the vile stopper. ”
The FDA reports yearly case counts
in the United States during the past
four decades varying from 1,323 to
3,525. Meningitis, while rare, is a seri
ous illness that kills approximately 1
percent of infected individuals. Of the
survivors, about one in five suffer per
manent disabilities, such as brain dam
age, hearing loss and limb amputation.
The early symptoms of meningitis
can develop over several hours or days
and may include high fever, headache,
stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, discom
fort looking into bright lights, confu
sion and sleepiness. Later, the infected
patient may start to have seizures.
emilysmith@dailyemerald.com
IN BRIEF
OSU grants suspended
due to decline in ethics
PHILOMATH - The Philomath
based Clemens Foundation, which has
paid for thousands of rural Benton
County high school graduates to at
tend college, plans to suspend grants
for students who go to nearby Oregon
State University.
This year, it says it provided more
than $1.6 million in tuition for 600 stu
dents. About 150 of those are at OSU.
In a news release, the Clemens
Foundation said its board had “serious
issues with the quality of education at
OSU, ranging from a shift in academic
purpose to a declining moral ethic,
which has prompted the decision to
suspend the grants.”
In 2003, the Clemens Foundation
made national news when it issued an
ultimatum to Philomath School Dis
trict officials to make administrative
changes, claiming the local schools
had become too "politically correct.n
However, tax forms show the foun
dation’s contribution level rising. From
1999 to 2003 the value of scholarships
climbed from less than $1.1 million to
$1.5 million.
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Senate: Still more to discuss, Isenberg says
Continued from page 3
student athletes, reducing athletic
scholarships in the face of inade
quate academic eligibility and ban
ning competitions during non-tradi
tional seasons.
Isenberg said the IAC discussed
the issue of collecting data on stu
dent athletes based on their course
selections, which would allow the
University to see if any particular
courses were serving as safe havens
for student athletes swimming in
mediocrity. The IAC needs more
time to discuss the other issues,
Isenberg said.
“We found we didn’t have time
for the two, let alone the other 50,”
Isenberg said. The IAC’s final vote
on the resolution was four in favor
and six opposed, Isenberg said.
Isenberg said the overall intent of
the document was good but there is
much concern surrounding what it
would mean to approve the docu
ment. It is not clear whether the
document mandates certain points
that may need to be discussed fur
ther, Isenberg said.
The senate approved the resolu
tion in a vocal vote.
meghanncaniff@ dailyemerald. com
Baldwin: Friends recall his contributions
Continued from page 1
Baldwin said. “Many of his students
became his friends and he contin
ued to mentor them even after they
left the University.”
taught them, adapting it to their
own country’s situation.
“One of John’s most lasting pro
fessional legacies is probably that
network,” Hulse said.
Baldwin did much in
ternational work in the
field of sustainability
during his life.
He was a member of a
group of University pro
fessors that traveled to
the former Soviet Union
after the 1986 nuclear
accident at Chernobyl to
help with re-inhabiting
the area. Baldwin’s job
was to educate locals
about the lingering dan
gers of radiation and
JOHN BALDWIN
\SS0CIATE PROFESSOR OF
UNIVERSITY PLANNING,
PUBLIC POLICY, AND
MANAGEMENT
one ciuse-iu-iiume
project Baldwin be
came involved in was
working in rural Benton
County studying long
term growth in the
Willamette Valley. Cur
rent Senior Assistant
Counsel for Metro
Richard Benner, who
first met Baldwin at the
University in 1992, said
he worked with Bald
win while Baldwin was
working on the valley
nrmirtK nrnioM
iicip menu icdcuic ddiciy.
“It became very clear that peo
ple are not changing very danger
ous behavior patterns in reference
to radiation, and they really need
to,” Baldwin told the Emerald
Benner said leaders from around
the state discussed Baldwin’s work
at a gathering regarding future
growth in the valley.
knew Baldwin since she came to
the University in 1983. She said
Baldwin was “one of our leading
faculty members in the area
of sustainability. ”
Baldwin had a class in which he
and students would get on a bus
and travel around Oregon and study
sustainability projects, she said.
“I never got to take his class,”
Johnson said. “I regret it now.”
Eben Fodor said he met Baldwin
when he came to the University for
graduate school in 1990.
“We spent a lot of time together
at the University and worked to
gether on many projects,” Fodor
said. “John’s just been one of the
heroes and environmental icons
for me ... I think every student he
had is going to have favorable
memories of John.”
University journalism and psy
chology student Erin Baldwin,
John Baldwin’s daughter, said
m Knro K at
in 1992.
University landscape archi
tecture professor David Hulse,
who helped launch the project
in the former Soviet Union and
who traveled to the region
with Baldwin between six and
He loved nature and the outdoors.
He loved sitting in his chair with
a blanket and his kitty. ”
Erin Baldwin | Daughter
father’s laugh.
“He did have a really quick
wit and he was kind of an old
soul. He just had a depth to
him where he really appreci
ated what was important” she
eight times, said Baldwin was the
best person he’s ever seen when it
came to communicating with peo
ple in the region with energy and
enthusiasm. When Hulse was
“dragging,” Baldwin would still be
full of energy and ready with the
right compliment for the right host,
he said.
“He was full of life. He was viva
cious. He was optimistic,” Hulse
said. “He was really future orient
ed, even in the face of really
naughty problems, like Chernobyl
... That was one of the reasons I re
ally enjoyed working with him. I’ll
miss him. ”
Hulse also said Baldwin created a
network of associates, friends and
former students around the world,
and he was the enthusiastic hub of
that network. Many of his students
returned to their countries and took
the land-use planning knowledge he
I-“
“That was one of his wonderful
contributions,” Benner said.
Benner, who was scheduled tc
teach a class for Baldwin during
spring term, said Baldwin was in
terested in holistic planning on a
regional basis, linking regional en
vironmental quality with planning.
“(His students) were very in
spired by his forward-thinking ap
proach,” Benner said. “He was
passionate about environmental
planning and it was infectious. II
was easy to become infected with
his enthusiasm ... That’s an awful
ly valuable attribute for a teacher.’
Baldwin also had a large impact
on the University campus as a
member of the University faculty
since 1980.
Karen Johnson, assistant dear
for external relations at the Schoo
of Architecture and Allied Arts
1
saia. He iovea naiure ana me
outdoors. He loved sitting in his
chair with a blanket and
his kitty. ”
“We already really feel his loss,”
she said.
Baldwin is survived by an imme
diate family that includes his wife,
Karen, and three children, Erin,
Ian, and Will.
A memorial service for Baldwin,
who will have a scholarship creat
ed in his name, will be held on
campus on March 18, from 3 p.m.
to 5 p.m. in the Gerlinger Lounge.
Baldwin’s family will be in atten
dance and the public is invited to
attend. Those who wish to speak
at the service are encouraged to
contact the PPPM department at
346-3808 or by e-mail at
pppm@uoregon.edu.
jaredpaben@dailyemerald.com
1
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