The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 3

2 Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune Monday, Feb. 19, 1979 The common cold We spend $843 million a year on remedies that won't cure By Kevin McKean AP science writer (Part one of a three-part scries) NEW YORK (AP) Is both the most and least serious dlsca.su One American in seven catches II every winter week but none die from it. We spend more than $81!) million a year for romodles.allhough there Is no cure. It causes a one-fourth of all school duys lost and a one-tenth of all work days lost. But research Into its causes has declined.

In recent yea rs. It also Is one of the few that can be spread by a handshake but perhaps not by a kiss. The disease? It's the common cold, an ailment that has the average adult sniffling and coughing at least twice a year and the average child five limes a year. Scientists have been able for two decodes to Isolate and grow some of the viruses which cause the cold but its cure remains elusive. The cold a runny nose and cough or sore throat.

There may also be chills, headache, muscle aches or just an all-in feeling. It ends about a week later with congestion In the head. It Is an ailment often maligned by association. We loosely call a "cold" anything that produces cold- like symptoms. But a "cold" can be caused by more than 200 strains of virus, of which only about 130 arc strains of rhinovirus or coronavirus, the main cold viruses.

Other viruses that sometimes masquerade as colds include those that cause flu, pneumonia and bronchitis. Colds are potent medical enemies because: are so many cold-causing viruses that it is impossible so far to find a vaccine to protect against the major strains. can identify the virus culprit in only about onchalf of colds, raising the possibility of many undiscovered strains. natural immunity acquired from a cold protects only against strain of virus. It doesn't protect against other strains and lasts only two years, so it's possible to get one'cold after another.

the virus lives inside cells, It is hard to kill the virus without killing cells. "Because of the problems, cold viruses have become a low priority In terms of research funding," says Dr. Arnold S. Monto of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Monto and his colleagues have studied respiratory infections in the small town of Tccumsch, since 1965.

Among their findings: children appear to be the main "reservoir" for colds. "If there were no children, colds wouldn't disappear but there would fewer of them," Monto says. Doctors have long suspected was virus-swapping at the beginning of school that caused colds to peak in late September every year. Monto says the age at which children get the most colds has declined from age 5, where it stood 20 years ago, to age 3, probably because kids are going off to day care centers earlier. This could be a dangerous trend because younger children are more vulnerable.

For example, an ailment known as respiratory syncytial virus can appear as only a bad cold in an older child but is the No. 1 disease killer of infants under age 1, Monto says. Some researchers think the cold medicine of the future may come in a hand lotion. That is because work with volunteers suggests the most common way people catch colds Is by getting virus on their hands from people who have colds. The unwitting recipients then accidentally inoculate themselves by rubbing the nose or eyes.

"We know that persons who have colds usually have virus on their hands. It comes from blowing their noses or common hand-to-face contact," says Dr. Jack Gwaltney, chief of epidemiology and urology at the University of Virginia's Department of Internal Medicine. In Gwaltncy's experiments, volunteers who shared living quarters Please see We, P-8 fct Today Deadbeafs beware! Bill would waive filing fee for carriers Nothing to sneeze at The common cold has had scientists looking for an elusive cure for more than 20 years. It has the average adult sneezing, sniffling and coughing at leait twice a year.

Children in the family are even more frequent victims they have colds at least five times a year. (AP cartoon). Newspaper dcadbcals beware: A Terre Haute state legislator is sponsoring a bill to make it easier for newspaper carriers to sue customers who don't pay. Hop. William Roach, D-Wcst Terre Haute, has introduced a bill from the $1.30 weekly fee to as hluh as $15.

She added there are many such deadbeals within the Tribune's circulation area'. think Flossie Price, assistant circulation manager for the Kokomo Tribune, said the waiver of the fee will help paper carriers for the Tribune who have deadbeats owing them Exhibitors at Technology '79 cancel because of demonstrators ROSEMONT, III. (AP) A demonstration by about 2,500 persons opposed to an international arms technology conference and weapons show will make it difficult to hold future "arms In the U.S. and Europe, a rally leader says. Late but great Seth McCoy always wanted to be a singer, but for years he wouldn't admit it, even to himself.

Saturday night he made it. At age 50 McCoy made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. (AP photo). Ron Freund, a leader of Clergy and Laity Concerned, called the protest Sunday "fantastically successful." He noted that because of the threat of demonstrations, more than half of the scheduled exhibitors had canceled before the first day of the conference Sunday. As early as December, Freund said, the Chicago suburb of Rosc- mont asked the sponsor of "Defense Technology '79" to move the show.

No violence occurred at the O'- Harc Exposition Center, the site of the four-day conference, as protestors from across the Midwest chanted, waved placards and held a prayer service during the afternoon. However, five persons were arrested on charges of criminal trespass to property after they lay down on the snow-covered ground to prevent pedestrian access to the center. Three of the five Identified themselves as Roman Catholic priests from Baltimore and Omaha. Officials of Copley Associates, an Australian-owned publisher of defense and strategy periodicals which sponsored the conference, were unavailable for comment. The conference and exhibition were closed to the public and news reporters, but representatives of trade publications were permitted to enter.

Between 450 and 500 persons attended, less than half the original number expected. They included representatives of East European countries, Africa, the Middle East, Korea and Latin America. Four Soviet colonels attached to the U.S.S.H. embassy in Washington also attended the conference, said Dr. Miles Costick, a guest speaker and founder of the Institute on Strategic Trade, a non-profit educational institute located in Washington.

"They were here to learn and steal whatever they can steal," said Costick. One colonel identified himself to conferees as a businessman and "grabbed every piece of literature he could get a hold of," Costick said. "He was like a human vacuum cleaner." "The ones most interested in this conference were the Third World nations or persons that want to get into (political) power," said Costick, who is scheduled to lecture Tuesday on the transformation of industrial technology for military uses. One protestor, Harvey Overton, a professor of humanities at Western Michigan University, said he and his family withstood the continuous snow and cold because he is opposed to escalation of the arms race. "This kind of thing is a spectacular weapons supermarket," Overton said.

"We already have enough (weapons) to destroy the world. Just the symbol of this Is an obscene thing." But it is not the Tribune, it is the carrier who misses it because he is charged for those newspapers on a daily basis," she said. Rep. Roach remembers his own experiences trying to collect from customrs on his route. "I was a newspaper carrier for five years back in the 1940s.

I delivered the Cincinnati Enquirer and it was my sole source of income, he said. "When I'd go around to collect, I'd have people peeping behind the curtains. I've had them slam the door in my face. I've had them put their dogs on me." His position is simple: "When a kid gets up at five o'clock in the morning so you can have your paper, he deserves to be paid." Mrs. Price recalls a Tribune news carrier who two years ago successfully won a lawsuit to collect overdue money from a deadbeat.

She said Roach's bill would make it easier for newsboys to do that. The way the situation is now, Roach said, "our courts arc structured so that truly small claims are just forgotten." "A kid's got five deadbeat customers-who haven't been paying him. He has to come up with $50 on the chance of maybe getting $30 back," Roach explained. "So many haven't filed because they're afraid to file." Roach said he is concerned that even though the filing fee is returned if the plaintiff is successful in his suit, it is denying yongsters access to the legal system." And youngsters aren't the only ones who are upset by customers who won't pay up. Parents become incensed.

They also have a lot of time and effort invested, Roach claims. Roach's bill has been assigned to the Human Affairs Committee, but he said chairman Ray.Richardson, R-Greonfield, has indicated he will not give it a hearing. So Roach said he will try to amend his bill into another measure before the full House. "He's worried about nuisance suits," Roach said of Richardson. "1 don't want to see the courts clogged up with nuisance suits.

But I also don't want to see a kid gyped out of $4.85." Easter Society volunteer leaders to meet Wednesday with governor Coast Guard searching today for missing helicopter crewman BOSTON (AP) The Coast Guard searched today for the crewman of a helicopter that crushed in heavy seas while attempting to airlift an Injured man from the Japanese fishing vessel Knisul Mam No. 1H. Three other Coast Guardsmen died in the early morning crash Sunday. The Coast Guard HI1-3K "Pelican" long-range helicopter from Otis Air Force Base crashed 180 miles southeast of Cape Cod and 350 miles east of New York City. "The helicopter was about to hoist up the Injured Japanese crewman when something happened, and the helicopter went down," said Coast Guard Seaman Paul Powers.

He said the wind was gusting up to mph and the. seas were running about 25 feet. Snow had reduced visibility to three miles. LI. Joseph Duncan said the search for hospital corpsman 2nd class Bruce Kaehler, 27, of Fort Collins, would center on a 10-mile circle uround the helicopter, which remained floating although upside down.

"The seas are about 50 degrees," said Duncan. "There's very little chance for There's a chance he may be In the helicopter, whicli Is filled wild water." Gov. Otis R. Bowen will' meet Wednesday with the Indiana Easter Seal Society's volunteer leaders, and will be presented the first sheet of Easter Seals for 1979 by Lara Sontag, Indiana Easter Seal Child. Charles Bacr of Kokomo, president of the Easter Seal Society's board of directors, made the announcement.

Lara and Chet Coppock, Indianapolis sports announcer who is this year's state chairman, will make the presentation to the governor at 2:30 p.m. Also attending will be members of the Indianapolis Women's Civic Club which annually selects the -state's Easter Seal child. Lara, of Sullivan, was born with spina blfida, an open spine condition. With the aid of braces and a walker, she is able to maintain her balance and walk. She Is enrolled in kindergarten at Carlisle Elementary Schol and enjoys music, television, puzzles, flowers, and likes to shop, The Easter Seal Society is the oldest and largest voluntary health agency providing direct service to the handicapped.

This year's drive will open March 1 and will conclude Easter Sunday, April 15. The funds enable the Eastor Seal Society to provide direct service to the handicapped of Indiana. Services provided include purchase of rehabilitation services such as physical and occupational therapy; speech and hearing evaluation; summer camping experiences for the handicapped; scholar- ship programs, and purchase of wheel chairs, crutches, and artificial limbs. Tis the season Francis Ward, a service station operator outside Pitts- shows some of the estimated 80 to 90 blow-outs resulting from poth- ar h.s station. It's a 5 omB Ward said, "I'm making money on it, station, but it's still a shame." photo).

Every year about this time everyone is dodging potholes PITTSBURGH (AP) Every year about this time, Pennsylvania motorists go through more bumps and grinds than Gypsy Hose Lee as they negotiate pitted highways that in some places are roads in name only. Potholes are opening faster than repair crews can patch them, and with more winter wealher and the spring thaw in store, the worst is still ahead. "It's a shame," muttered Francis Ward, proprietor of a service station along a rutted stretch of Pittsburgh's Ardmore Boulevard. "I'm making money on it, but it's still a shame." Outside Ward's station, about 20 ruined tires are stacked in the snow silent trophies of the city's mean streets. "There are just so many potholes around here, that I can't keep up with them, Last week in one five- hour period we fixed 16 flats," Ward said.

His Is a motorist's horror story, but it's not the worst. Consider these: monster chuckhole on a railroad crossing In downtown Erie trapped a car last month. The owner went for help and came back to find the car smashed by a train. a recent heavy rain, a pothole about a foot deep and a yard wide appeared on Philadelphia's Schuylkill Expressway. It caused so many problems that an enterprising tow truck driver par ked nearby and took orders.

section of Interstate 70 ii Westmoreland County has crum bled so badly that an estimated 15i tractor-trailers staged a slowdowi near Belle Vernon last week to pro test the highway's condition. Erie County, about 12 mile of the westbound lanes of 1-90 havi so deteriorated that the speed limi had to be reduced to 40 mph. meanwhile, on U.S. 31 If you've driven U.S.- 31 here lately, you must have noticed the chuckholes and wondered why they aren't being fixed, The answer is the same for many problems during winter months "It's too cold. Wait until the weather lets up." William Howell, a driver for the Indiana State Highway Department, explained that winter weather and the freeze-and-thaw action make the holes larger, and the material to fill the holes won't hold.

"The temperature must be above freezing before the fill-in material can be effective. Right now, we're just working on keeping it cleared. As soon as we can, will star) working on road repairs," he promised..