The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, April 8, 1983 Page: 1 of 16
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AIDS, mysterious contagious killer virus, baffles researchers
“Research takes a lot of time and money. Grants,
San Antonio College
Vol. 57 No. 22
San Antonio, Texas
April 8, 1983
Talal’s response was much more guarded.
“Hopefully soon,” he said.e
sheet contest, with PEOPLE winning
second and $30 and Advertising Art
Club taking third and $20.
Booths at the bazaar included a
variety of foods and merchandise
“I think it would have been more
fun outside—it’s a little crowded this
tors or lab personnel that have been working with
AIDS. So its contagiousness may be limited—or
there may be certain host factors that contribute
to susceptability.”
Festivities
features
music, food
By Jack Evans
News Editor
sion was unfortunate.
“We will have about the the same
number of students attending; it just
won’t be as fun,” he added.
Mike White, freshman computer
science major, said he felt holding
the bazaar indoors was a mistake.
“It should have been outside.
What if it would have been colder?
People could have worn coats,”
White said.
Dr. Max Castillo, president of the
college, agreed it was unfortunate
the festival was held indoors.
“It’s too bad. I could have told
them the weather was going to
change. But it’s still a nice thing. It
(Bizarre Bazaar) creates more stu-
dent involvement and shows more
of the campus’ atmosphere,”
Castillo said.
Frank Burns, Student Represen-
tative Commissions president, said
he felt the festival was still suc-
cessful indoors.
“From what I’ve seen it has been
very successful. Everybody seems to
bazaar.
“It’s interesting. I think it’s better
than Octoberfest. Also, I think it’s
better in here,” Sara Lopez,
But still, the researchers say the situation is by
no means hopeless.
“It takes time to identify and isolate (the virus),”
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The thrill of victory
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chers do know about AIDS. It is called “acquired”
because the victims didn’t inherit the disease. “Im-
mune deficiency” refers to the one common bond
all the victims share—a breakdown of the immune
system. Finally, “syndrome” is the catch-all phrase
used to describe the variety of rare, albeit deadly,
diseases that prey on victims’ weakened defenses.
Initially, doctors had various theories on the
cause of AIDS. Some suspected the use of amyl
nitrate, or “poppers,” in the gay community as a
possible culprit. Others pointed to the suppressive
effect sperm tends to have on the immune systems
of laboratory animals as a possibility. Still others
pointed out that because gay lifestyle is often so
promiscuous, the victims were suffering from an
overload of intruders that resulted in suppressed
immune systems.
These theories (and certainly others) have all
almost been discarded. The popular theory now is
that the disease is an infectious agent.
“I suspect it’s an infectious agent,” said Dr. Dan
Kissner, associate professor of medicine in on-
cology at the University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio.
“The disease is behaving like an infectious agent
in that it’s highly contagious. Family members get
it, offspring born at the time a parent is ill can be
infected,” he said.
“Its transmission is probably viral,” he con-
tinued. “It is certainly transmissible by sexual con-
tact, but how transmissible, we don’t know. For
instance, I don’t know of one case of infected doc-
be enjoying themselves,” Burns
said.
Although campus police were
more visible at the indoor festival, it
was for no reason other than to
make the festival safe, Capt. Robert
O’Keefe, commander of the campus
police, said.
“Security requirements indoors
are a little different. We were just a
little more visible inside than out on
Bennett Grounds. We just took nor-
mal safety precautions,” O’Keefe
said.*
Rueben Coleman and spoon ’n’ thread
Dr. Norman Talal, professor of medicine and tial AIDS symptoms,
director of immunology at the center, said results
of medical research has not provided needed
answers.
were
dependency on clotting agents derived from the
blood of thousands of donors.
Because of the theory that AIDS is caused by a
virus and is spread through “intimate contact,”
such as shared drug needles or sexual intercourse, guess,” Kissner said,
there remains the possibility that blood supplies
everywhere could be contaminated.
epidemic, from the scientific community on this.”
“It (the AIDS situation) is not that hopeless.
We’re dealing with a big problem and many peo-
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achitecture major; Angela Lewis,
freshman home economics major;
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i With the weather reports
i forecasting a 30 percent chance for
showers on Wednesday, the student
activities office decided to move
a Bizarre Bazaar, the annual spring
festival, indoors.
“With that forecast and Tuesday
being as cold as it was, we decided
it would just be better to move the
L whole thing indoors,” Larry Adam-
son, director of student activities,
[ said. However, blue skies and warm
I weather prevailed outdoors, and
| Adamson commented that the deci-
Bizarre Bazaar, this campus’s an-
nual spring festival, featured live
music and contests, along with a
variety of food and gift booths, in the
Fiesta and El Alamo rooms of Loftin
, Student Center Wednesday.
More than 7,000 students enjoyed
the bazaar some time during the
day, Larry Adamson, director of stu-
dent activities, estimated.
Morning festivities began with the
semi-rock and progressive country
band, the Drug Store Cowboys, in the
Coffeehouse. The musical entertain-
ment continued with local radio sta-
tion disc jockey Steve O’Sellers from
KISS, followed by the Reggae funk
f band, La Franz, which performed
here earlier this semester.
At noon McMillan and Company,
a dance club, performed the “Cotton-
Eyed Joe” along with keeping step
with other popular country-western
music.
The contests started off with the
weiner pass, an event where par-
ticipants pass a hot dog to each other
with only their knees, attempting to
move it down the line without drop-
ping the slippery weiner. Emerging
champion weiner passers were
Benhester Craig, freshman computer
science major; Shirley Huff,
sophomore nursing major; Robert
k Eucare, freshman marketing major;
I* Gary Peterson, sophomore architec-
ture major; and Elliot Eggleston,
! sophomore diesel mechanics major,
i Following the weiner pass the win-
ners of the Coffeehouse Name
i Change Contest and the bedsheet
contest were announced. Walter
Jones, a sophomore, won the name
change contest with “The SAC Ex-
change” and will be awarded $25.
A killer is on the loose.
The people trying to catch the killer don’t have
any firm leads now and although they hope they
will soon, that is little consolation for the victims.
The killer is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syn-
drome (AIDS), and it has begun to strike with a
deadly and alarming frequency.
Doctors first encountered AIDS in late 1978, and
since its discovery, the disease has mainly affected
homosexual men. In fact, 87 percent of the victims
fit that description.
But a growing number of other types of people
are contracting AIDS, namely intravenous drug
abusers, hemophiliacs, Haitians and even young
children.
More than four years later, the disease has in-
spired numerous research teams and infected
more people. One doctor said the Center for
Disease Control estimated that by 1990, there will
be 20,000 cases of AIDS in this country. Even so,
researchers do not have much more information
about the disease’s origin than they had to begin
with.
As of Jan. 15, 1983, AIDS had afflicted 891 peo-
ple. Of that number, 333 have died, and some
researchers actually believe no one can survive the
disease.
There are some things (however few) that resear-
“I don’t think there’s any question they could
be contaminated,” Kissner said.
Already, various blood banks across the nation
have begun discreetly screening donors for poten-
I By Scott Berg
Arts Editor
f (First of a series)
1
; huddling close together. Triumph
came to John Cavazos, sophomore
freshman business technology ma- Farmers of America, said part of the
| jor; Reuben Coleman, sophomore purchasing appeal of the taco was a,
view of the pigs, chickens and rab-
bits surrounding the booth.
Cecilia Garcia and the egg toss
i First place and $40 went to Future and Andrea Rodriguez, freshman
I Secretaries of America in the bed- undeclared major.
Winners of both the weiner pass
and the spoon ’n’ thread contests
were awarded Sound Warehouse,
I The afternoon brought the spoon Miller Lite, KISS and KESI radio sta-
| ’n’ thread contest, a game where five tion T-shirts.
I participants thread a string attach- Booths at the bazaar included a
[ ed to a spoon down their pants legs, variety of foods and merchandise
I trying to use the least bit string by sold by campus organizations and
local businesses.
Introducing the “Polish taco”,
business major; Maria Castro, Jorge Tamayo, sentinal for the Future
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Tommy Hultgren
“We’re raking it (money) in. The merchandise by the Cheshire Cheese
animals attract a crowd, plus we Club and rock and roll memorabilia
have bigger sausages than anybody by a local business, Truckers General
else here,” Tamayo said. Store.
Another new feature at the bazaar Students and faculty overall said
was haircutting, performed by they were pleased with this year’s
Advertising Art Club members, in
addition to a fajita booth and
sunglasses booth.
“It’s a lot busier than last year.
We’ve cut a lot of hair and the fajitas freshman special education and
are doing well too,” Gladys Cosio, physical education major, said.
freshman advertising art major, ‘ ......." 1____'___________
Also featured were fruit kabobs by way. But it looks like it’s a huge suc-
the Student Art Guild, a White cess,” Peter Kline, music professor,
Elephant Sale featuring assorted said.®
Threat of showers moves bazaar indoors
I
If this hypothesis proves true, people everywhere
are in trouble. Anyone who requires a blood
transfusion during an emergency situation runs
“What we have here is a medical detective story, the risk of getting the disease.
But the overwhelming evidence is that the disease
is an infectious agent,” Talal said.
“We think it’s a multi-factorial disease, in which
case it’s not an either/or situation. I think there are Kissner said.
a number of things—recreational drugs, pro- “Research takes a lot of time and money. Grants,
miscuity are factors that can contribute,” he government funds and things like that have to be
continued. set up. There has been a tremendous response
“The fact is we’re dealing with an
There are just a number of additional factors,” he
said.
One concern about the disease is the hypothesis pie are working hard on it. There are people who
that it could be passed through the blood banks are actually working day and night to try to find
of the nation. an answer,” Talal said.
When young, heterosexual hemophiliacs began “The real concern is that it might be blood-
getting AIDS in larger numbers, the only link they born,” he added, “but right now we can only look
found to have with each other was their into the likely possibilities.”
How long before this “medical detective story”
is solved ?
“I find it very unlikely we won’t find out what
it is. I’d say within a year or so, just as a wild
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San Antonio College. The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, April 8, 1983, newspaper, April 8, 1983; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1333689/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting San Antonio College.