P age B3
Influenza
Immunization Urged
The A dult Im m u n izatio n C o ­
a litio n , a g ro u p o f p riv a te and
governm ent health o rg an izatio n s,
is laun ch in g its annual "K n o ck
O ut the F lu e” cam paign for 1995.
Influenza is a co n tag io u s re s­
pirato ry d isease w hich, com bined
w ith p n e u m o n ia , ran k s as the
sixth leading cau se o f death both
in O regon and n atio n ally A bout
33 p ercen t o f O re g o n 's h ig h -risk
in d iv id u als are not be v accin ated
a g a in st influenza.
“ Flue v a ccin es are a sim p le,
effe c tiv e way to p rev en t illn ess
and save lives. T hanks to th e ir
av ailab ility , the num ber o f d eaths
and d isa b ility cau sed by the Hu
can be su b sta n tia lly d e c re a s e d ,”
said Dr. G ran t H ig g in so n , state
health o fficer.
H igginson a lso n o tes that Hu
vaccin es are co v e re d by M ed i­
c a re . He re c o m m e n d s g e ttin g
vaccin ated betw een m id -O cto b er
an d m id -N o v e m b e r sin c e flu
Never Underestimate
The Power Of A Wish
since flu seaso n a rriv e s in late
fall and p e rsists th ro u g h o u t the
w in ter m onths. T his allow s su ffi­
cien t tim e for a n tib o d ie s to build
up b efo re the peak o f flu season.
T hose at g re a te st risk from
se v e re e ffe c ts o f the flu are:
healthy p eo p le w ho are 65 or o ld ­
e r, a d u lts a n d c h ild r e n w ith
chronic d iso rd e rs o f the heart and
lungs, in c lu d in g c h ild re n w ith
asthm a and re sid e n ts o f nursing
h om es and o th e r c h ro n ic -c a re
fa c ilitie s.
P eople w ho live and w ork
aro u n d h i g h r i s k p atien ts also
need to be v a c c in a ted b ecause
they can tra n sm it influenza to
h ig h risk p e r s o n s . I n f lu e n z a
strain s d iffe r each year, so the
c o a litio n a d v ise s citiz e n s to get
th e ir flu shot an n ually.
C o n tact yo u r health care p ro ­
v id er, cou nty health d ep artm en t
or 1-800 S A F E N E T for Hu c lin ­
ics in y our area.
Ebony McKinney is in recovery after being diagnosed with a life-
threatening disorder of the immune system.
Good Diet, Exercise Slows Heart Disease
A scanning technique used pri­
marily for investigating brain disor­
ders has confirmed that diet and
exercise can m oderately reverse
heart disease, according to a new
report.
A number o f studies in the past
few years have shown that low-fat
diets arid exercise can stop the pro­
gression o f heart disease or even
partially reverse it but the degree to
which that happens has been diffi­
cult to demonstrate, researchers at
the University o f Texas Medical
School said.
Ina study published in the Jour­
nal o f the American Medical
Association, they reported on
th e u se o f p o s itro n e m issio n
tomography (PET) scans on a group
o f 35 patients observed over a five-
year period who had been diagnosed
with coronary artery disease. Fifteen
o f the patients ate a vegetarian diet
consisting o f 15 percent protein and
75 percent complex carbohydrates,
stepped smoking if they had been,
practiced stress management tech­
niques for an hour daily and did mi Id-
to-moderate aerobic exercises three
hours a week. Forty-five percent o f
the patients not on the diet and exer­
cise program had a worsening o f the
build-up o f plaque on artery walls,
wh i le 50 percent in that group showed
no change. “By comparison most o f
the patients in the experimental
group (all but I percent) showed
improvement or no change. The
difference in these changes between
control and experimental groups
was significant,” the report said.
The scanning technique pro­
duces three-dimensional images o f
blood flow through the circulatory
system. Such scans have primarily
been used in medicine for probing
brain disorders.
The researchers said the tech­
nique is also much cheaper and less
invasive than using angiograms
currently the most common method
for checking on blocked or clogged
arteries.
A nyone w ho thinks w ishes
d o n 't com e true h a sn ’t talked to
Ebony M cK inney.
T h e 1 9 - y e a r - o ld c o lle g e
s o p h o m o r e fo rm P itts b u r g h ,
Penn., has seen tw o big w ishes
com e true in her life and hopes
one day she can help grant w ish ­
es to o th e rs through the M ake-A -
W ish F oundation.
As a pre-teen , M cK inney was
diag n o sed w ith a life -th re a te n ­
ing d iso rd e r o f the im m une sy s­
tem. She spent m any years in
co n stan t pain and the m e d ic a ­
tions m ade her feel u n c o m fo rt­
able and u n a ttra c tiv e . A lthough
she was an e x cellen t stu d e n t, she
m issed a lot o f school b ecause o f
her illn e ss. In on bleak m om ent
she c o n sid e re d su icide.
But n e v e r u n d erestim ate the
p o w e r o f a w is h o rtw o w ishes for
that m atter. M cK inney certa in ly
d o e s n ’t.
W hen she w as 10, she told
the M ake-A -W ish F o u n d a tio n
sh e ’d like to m eet her fa v o rite
pop sin g e r sta r W hitney H o u s­
ton H aving her w ish a c tu a lly
com e true, at a c o n c e rt in Los
A ngeles in 1986, "h e lp e d me
start believ in g in th in g s again,
in o th e r people and in m y se lf,”
M cK inney said.
T oday, M cK inney ’s d ise a se
is in clin ical rem issio n and she
recen tly started her seco n d y e a r
at C hatham C o lleg e for w om en
in P ittsb u rg h , w here she is m a ­
jo rin g in E nglish w ith a m in o r in
com m unications.
T his year m arks the 15th a n ­
n iv e rsa ry o f the fo u n d in g o f
M ake-A -W ish. S ince 1980, the
o rg an izatio n has grow n to 83
ch ap ters in the U nited S tates,
with 13 in tern atio n al a ffilia te s.
F oundation v o lu n te e rs have
granted m ore than 3 3 ,0 0 0 w ish ­
es to ch ild ren w ith term in al ill­
nesses.
Is It A Cold Or The Flu?
When people say they have the
Hue, do they really?
Influenza is caused by one of
two virus strain types A or B and it is
only prevalent during the fall and
winter months.
The flu is characterized by a
sudden high fever, head and muscle
aches and sore throat. People can
expect to fell sick usually 5-10 days.
I he Hue has very little to do with any
nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
A cold is an upper respiratory
infection caused by hundreds of vi­
ruses. It can last five to seven days
and appears any time o f the year. A
tlu shot does not prevent a cold, but
it’s 70 percent effective in fighting
the Hue virus in healthy persons.
“The flue is considered a pre­
ventable infectious disease, says Dr.
Adrianee Feldstein, internist and di­
rector o f Kaiser Permanente’s Occu­
pational Health Services Department.
"I highly recommend one (a tlu shot)
for the elderly, chronically ill, or
anyone who wants to decrease their
chance of getting the virus this win­
ter.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control say October is the time to get
a flu shot. This gives the body enough
time to build up immunities needed
to fight the virus during the flue sea­
son, which usually runs November
through February.
For more information on where
toget flu vaccinations, people should
contact their health care provider or
cal! 1—800-SAFENET for a listing
o f flu clinics in the community.
Needle Exchange Slow Spread Of AIDS
Needle exchange programs can
slow the spread o f AIDS among drug
users and the federal government
should lift a ban on helping to fund
them, an influential medical adviso­
ry panel has said.
The joint panel o f the National
Research Council and the Institute o f
Medicine also concluded that needle
exchange programs do not encour­
age more people to use drugs or lead
drug abusers to take even more drugs.
The panel, which gives non­
binding but influential advice to the
government, did not call for a man­
datory national needleexchange pro­
gram, but said communities should
be free to establish them without
federal obstacles or fear o f losing
federal funding.
AIDS initially, mainly affected
gay men, who accounted for aboui
Pain may be
eliminated
for millions
(S P E C IA L ) - A new drug has been
approved that is exciting research­
ers in the treatment of pain. This
material has been formulated into a
new product known as " A r t h u r
Itis™" and is being called a "Medi­
c a l M ira cle " by some, in the treat­
ment of debilitating conditions such
as arthritis, bursitis, rheumatism,
painful muscle aches, joint aches,
simple backache, bruises, and more.
Although the mechanism of action
is unclear, experiments indicate that
A rth u r Itis™ relieves pain by first
selectively attracting, and then de­
stroying the messenger chemical
which carries pain sensations to the
brain, thus eliminating pain in the
affected area. A r th u r Itis™ is an
odorless, grcasclcss, non-staining
cream and is available immediately
without a prescription and is guar­
anteed tO WOrk.
llee only ee directed
©
I M i . IM M r Heel» FroA rtt. Inc
C u r r in ’s for Drugs
8438 N. Lombard St. • 286-0207
H ealthtek Pharm acy
1423 Lloyd C e n te r«284-6978
three-fourths o f the cases, but only
half the cases are now linked to male
homosexual sex.
At the same time, the proportion
o f cases involving people who inject
illegal drugs, often sharing needles
contaminated with HIV, the deadly
AIDS virus, rose from 12 percent in
1981 to 28 percent in 1993.
That in turn has led to increasing
numbers o f women and children in­
fected with HIV, either through drug
use by the women or their having sex
with partners who were drug users.
Infected women can pass the virus to
unborn babies.
The book-length report says nee­
dle exchange programs are prefera­
ble to just using bleach to sterilize
needles, although bleach is better
than nothing at all.
“Needle exchange programs in-
crease the availability o f sterile in­
jection equipment,” the report said.
“The lower the fraction o f needles in
circulation that are contaminated, the
lower the risk o f new HIV infec­
tions.”
A lthough the act o f giving a
clean needle to a drug addict “ has
a p o w erful sym bolism that has
spark ed fe a rs” th at it will e n ­
courage drug use, the reverse may
be tru e , it said.
“These programs often result in
more referrals to drug abuse treat­
ment,” said panel chairman Lincoln
Moses, a health policy professor
emeritus at Stanford.
The panel recommended more
long-term monitoring on drug use
patterns, saying experience with
needle-exchange programs is limit­
ed.
A N N O U N C IN G
A NEW A N D
IM P R O V E D W AY FOR A B A N K
T O L IS T E N T O Y O U .
Il’s a simple desire. To be
heard. T hat’s why when you need
a small business or SBA loan,
Looking For The Best Value In Advertising?
® I|c ^ îo rtla n b Ofrbscrüer
I
2 8 8 -0 0 3 3
7
you want someone to hear you
(IN O N E E A R )---**
1
New & used books on
Business, Music, &
African-American Studies
And respond. At First Interstate
Bank we've made it a priority
o f ours to do both for you.
So why not call us at First
POWELL'S
CITY OF BOOKS
Interstate B ank' W ell listen.
We ll learn. We ll respond. And
we ll get started. Just as soon as
9 AM - 11 PM Monday through Saturday
9 AM - 9 PM Sundays
Used books bought every day till 8:30 PM
On the #20 Bus line • One hour free parking
1005 West Burnside Street
228-4651
we hear from you.
you
¿r O
First Interstate
v -*•