Mystery disease not flu;
virtis or toxin suspected
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Medical
detectives \ scored
breakthrough 1 yesterday in the search
for the cause of the “legionnaires
disease’’ that Has killed 23 persons.
' Researchers almost completely ruled
out influenza,! including swine flu, and
suggested instead the disease may have
been caused 'by a virus or toxin, a
chemical agent that could be in such
everyday items as plastics, paper or
soap. i
There were two new deaths yesterday
that have not been officially linked to the
disease by state health officials. The two
victims had attended the' American
Legion convention and had symptoms of
the disease, hospital spokesmen said.
Health officials said they wouldn’t be
vi able to say whether the two deaths were
’' linked to the disease until today at the
earliest. Officially, 23 persons have died
and 138 are hospitalized.
A new crop of cultures being grown in
a state laboratory here will be harvested
this morning and should further pin
down the exact cause of the disease.
fj Meanwhile, eight investigators from
> the city’s Health Department and a
consultant from the Center for Disease
Control in Atlanta were checking
downtown city hotels.
The team will visit the six hotels used
by the 161 persons who were stricken by
. disease at the legion convention last
S* month. The investigators will test
carpets, wall paper, air conditioning,
among other things to find a possible
environmental cause of the disease.
“There is a possibility that we will
never find the answer,” said state
Health Secretary Leonard Bachman,
■v But he promised to continue the in
vestigation “for a year or two years if it
is needed to get to the bottom of it.”
The new deaths were both from south
western Pennsylvania. Elva Hamilton,
73, of Upper St. Clair, died in Pitts
burgh’s St. Francis Hospital, and Earl
Cox, 63, of Muse in Washington County,
' died in Washington Hospital.
Earlier yesterday, Bachman said the
Report says nuclear sites
lack adequate protection
WASHINGTON (UPI) U.S. nuclear
installations are inadequately protected
against possible attack by terrorists,
with most guarded by only two men with
„ revolvers and shotguns, according to a
J congressional report released yester
day.
■Reps. Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., and
Paul E. Tsongas, D-Mass; releasing the
report on behalf of a House sub
committee, said they were especially
concerned because the Nuclear
H Regulatory Commission itself
' acknowledged the security deficiencies,
but many had not been corrected.
Udall and Tsongas said the com
mission was particularly worried about
possible success of attacks by “three or
more ... well-armed, well-trained per
sons, who might possess inside
knowledge or assistance.”
“.The commission believes that such
groups might possess, explosives,
machine guns, anti-tank weapons, and
helicopters,” their statement said. “Yet
materials presented to the sub
committee indicate that, at present,
unclear installations are protected by as
few as two guards armed with .38 caliber
revolvers and shotguns.”
They said a July 20 letter from NRC
Chairman Marcus A. Rowden revealed
that security deficiencies were found at
all 15 facilities handling plutonium or
highly enriched uranium.
“A subsequent review found that
on on
the
daily
The latest addition to the Campus Loop bus system is the giant white emblem of the Nittany Lion painted
on the side of the blue buses.
Collegian
number of cases reported began
decreasing Tuesday and no cases have
been reported since then which began in
the past two days.
“Given the publicity that this has
received, we believe the reporting
system is good and we are optimistic,”
he said. .
All. victims were connected in some
way with the four day convention. State
health officials say they have no
evidence yet of secondary infection,
which would mean the disease is not
contagious.
Results of the first crop of cultures
grown in chicken embryoes at the state
lab were announced at a news con
ference in Harrisburg.
“There is no evidence that influenza
virus was present in those eggs,” Satz
said. “I’m 99 per cent sure it’s not a flu
virus.”
It may be another type of virus, Satz
said, but if so, “it’s going to be an
unusual virus.”
Bachman said Satz and his team of 14
researchers, working nonstop since
Monday and occasionally napping on
cots near the rows of incubated eggs and
baby mice, face the greatest danger.
“We are using every precaution with
our lab people,” said Bachman. “They
are particularly susceptible.”
If the disease, which has symptoms of
fever, chills and lung congestion, was
caused by a toxin, it’s probably
something that was spread through the
air, Bachman said.
Bachman said there is “acute viral
pneumonia going on' in Pennsylvania
and throughout the country, but it has
nothing to do with this.” Some of the
symptoms of the two are similar.
If the disease is a virus, it may be
difficult to ever pin down. A virus can
change. At Ft. Dix, N.J., where swine
flu was first isolated earlier this year,
the virus killed one man and sickened
several others, then changed into a
tamer form. Several hundred other men
were infected, but did not even get sick.
Dr. William Parkin, the state’s chief
seven of the 15 had continuing
deficiencies despite the earlier in
vestigation,” Udall and Tsongas said.
The congressmen also expressed
concern about possible sabotage of
nuclear power plants “resulting in
release of harmful quantities of
radioactive substances, into the’ en
vironment.”
“While there is considerable dispute
regarding the existence of groups that
might be motivated and equipped to
undertake such an act, most expert
opinion holds that reactors can be
designed and operated so that there is
minimum risk of sabotage, ’ ’ they said. .
But they said there were serious
questions “as to whether this design and
operational invulnerability had been
generally achieved at existing nuclear
generating facilities.”
The congressmen also found
inadequate the methods used to account
for nuclear materials.
“There is reason to doubt whether
present accounting techniques are
sufficiently accurate to detect the ab
sence of nuclear materials in quantities
sufficient for a bomb,” they said.
“The NRC should conclude either that
the threat to security is overblown and
that existing protection systems are
adequate, or they should decide the
threat is or could well be of major
proportions and that much more
stringent measures are needed,”
epidemiologist, or medical detective,
said the mystery disease is unique.
“I’m riot saying it’s never occurred
before,” he said. “But the type symp
toms we’re seeing, the lack of secondary
cases ... it isn’t ringing a clear bell for
us.”
If the disease is a toxin, Bachman
said, it would be a new one for him.
“I’m not familiar with any toxin that
through gaseous means or ingestion
would cause this type of reaction,” he
said.
The question of whether the outbreak
was caused by sabotage came up again
at the news conference. Bachman said
he had discussed it with law en
forcement agencies, but that he con
sidered it unlikely.
“I think there is some natural cause to
this ... I have been practicing medicine
long enough to be baffled by diseases
people get.”
Satz agreed. “It’s almost impossible to
spread something like that through
sabotage. I just don’t know how it could
be done.”
At the. lab, on the fourth floor of an
abandoned tuberculosis hospital in a
rowhouse area of North Philadelphia,
researchers plan to harvest several sets
of cultures over the next several days.
The cultures are grown in mice, eggs
and monkey cells from tissues taken
from infected persons.
Reagan gains six more delegates
By UPI
Ronald Reagan made his first trip to Ford is the nominee,
the northeast yesterday since choosing And Watergate, an issue that may not
Pennsylvania Sen. Richard Schweiker die despite nearly everyone’s stated
as his running mate, and picked up half a desire to kill it, floated back to the top
dozen previously uncommitted yesterday.
delegates in New York and New Jersey. In interviews with the Washington
Reagan aides unveiled four new Star and the Scripps-Howard
supporters in the New Jersey delegation newspapers, Democratic nominee
and two in the New York delegation as Jimmy Carter said it would be unfair
Reagan and Schweiker sought to exploit and politically harmful for him to use
Reagan’s ticket-balancing selection of Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon as an
llie liberal Schweiker' three weeks although' the Watergate scandal
Besides the New. Jersey and New York itself is fair game,
converts, Reagan picked up the support Within the Republican party, the
of Louisiana delegate Robert Livingston, wisdom of Ford’s apparent con-
President Ford, refusing to be goaded sideration as a running mate of John
by the Reagan camp into naming his Connally, whose name is linked by many
running mate before his own nomination to the word “Watergate,” was
is assured, said through a spokesman, questioned again,
the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket will be Sen. Robert Griffin of Michigan,
House Demos push voter registration bill
WASHINGTON (UPI) Republicans
called it a “sloppy mess” and “an in
vitation to fraud,” but House Democrats
forged ahead yesterday with a post card
voter registration bill although its
chances of enactment this year are
small.
The measure was resurrected in the
Rules Committee and quickly sent to the
floor after former Georgia Gov. Jimmy
Carter, the Democratic Presidential
nominee, phoned Speaker Carl Albert
last week.
The bill would set up a mass mailing of
post card registration forms to all
eligible voters in the nation, with states
monitoring the returns to establish
which persons are qualified to be placed
on the rolls. The registration would
cover only federal offices, not state or
local elections.
The bill came up for debate yesterday
with a vote tentatively ’ scheduled for
Monday. The Senate will wait for the
House bill.
Albert conceded President Ford will
undoubtedly veto the bill.
“I doubt if we can override the veto,”
he said, “but that does not relieve us of
e maelstrom...
The fouhtain standing in the courtyard in front of the Theater Arts Building takes on another dimension in
this tightly cropped and tilted photo, reminding one of the maelstrom in Jules Verne’s “Journey to the
Center of the Earth.”
Into ti
filled “in the traditional manner” if
our responsibility of doing what we have
always stood for, and that is making it
possible for as many eligible voters as
possible to be registered.”
He also estimated that, if all eligible
voters in the nation were registered, “I
guess 75 per cent of them would vote
Democratic.”
Rep. Bill Frenzel, R-Minn., said, “I
resent the way this sloppy mess was
USG given no voter registration forms
By KATHY O’TOOLE
Collegian Staff Writer
The Undergraduate Student Government has not yet
received any of Centre County’s 13,700 voter’s registration
cards for campus distribution, Paul Stevenson, director of
USG’s Department of Political Affairs, said yesterday.
Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners John
Saylor said the postcards would definitely be distributed on
campus although he was unsure when or how many cards
would be distributed.
Saylor said distribution of the postcards was as follows:
3,750, Democratic County Chairman; 3,750, Republican
County Chairman; 750, State Elections Commission office;
750, League of Women Voters and 4,700, Centre County Board
of Elections.
Of the 4,700 postcards received by the County Board of
Elections, Saylor said only 1,700 have been distributed.
“Rather than distribute all the postcards on the first day we
decided to keep 3,000 cards on reserve,” he said, “We’ll wait to
see where they are moving and where they are needed.”
Senate okays annual tax break
to offset student school costs
WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate
voted last night to create a tax credit to
help off-set the costs of higher education
and approved sweeping changes in
estate taxes.
When fully implemented, the two
provisions, added to an omnibus tax bill,
would cost the Treasury 3.1 billion a year
in lost revenue.
The tuition credit would benefit most
families with members enrolled in
college or vocational school. The credit
\yould go as high as $250 per student.
The major change in the estate tax
would be to raise from the current
$60,000 to the equivalent of $198,000 the
amount of estate that could escape
taxation.
The effect of the increased exemption
and other liberalizations is to tax only
the, wealthiest 2 per cent of estates.
Currently, the tax applies to 7 per cent.
The tuition credit was | approved by
en cents per copy
r rlday, Augusts, 1976
'ol. 77. No. 26 8 pages University Park, Pennsylvania
'ubllshed by Students of the Pennsylvania State University
Ford’s convention floor manager, noted
there are “pluses and minuses” at
tached to a Connally vice presidential
candidacy, mainly his indictment and
later acquittal on bribery charges. Sen.
Howard Baker, often mentioned as a
vice presidential possibility himself,
praised Connally, but said, “We all have
our warts.”
Presidential press secretary Ron
Nessen, asked about the wave of-anti-
Connally sentiment -; among some
members of Congress, referred to
Ford’s decision to ask convention
delegates and other party leaders to list
their running mate preferences by mail.
“The, President has established what
he believes is a sound procedure to
gather the views of members of
Congress and this is the proper way for
presented to us.”
Rep. Delbert Latta, R-Ohio, said, “this
bill is an outright invitation for fraud in
federal elections.
“You can go out and write down Election Commission to oversee the
names off of tombstones and mail them ' program.
in,” he said, "and you can also send in a The present measure was approved by
card saying a certain party has moved the House Administration Committee
and get him removed from the rolls.” last year but languished in the rules
Rep. Frank Thompson, D-N.J., panel until Carter’s telephone call.
voice vote after the Senate rejected, 68-
20, an attempt by Sen Edmund S.
Muskie, D-Maine, chairman of the
Budget Committee, to kill the credit.
No similar provision is in the House
version of the tax bill.
The tuition credit, proposed by Sen.
William Roth, R-Del., would start out at
$lOO per student on July 1,1977, and rise
by $5O a year until reaching the
maximum $250 in 1980.
The credit, which would cost the
Treasury $l.l billion a year by 1981,
could be used to reimburse the taxpayer
for tuition, fees, books and equipment
but not for food or dormitory expense.
Subtracted directly from taxes owed,
the credit would be available to the
student, if he files a tax return, other
wise to his parents.
The credit would apply only to the
costs of undergraduate or vocational
school and not for graduate courses.
Connally has started to attack his
critics, referring specifically to Wed
nesday’s visit to the White House of GOP
Reps. William Cohen of Maine and
Thomas Railsback of Illinois. Both voted
in the House Judiciary Committee two
years ago for Nixon’s impeachment and
now have asked Ford to listen to some of
his predecessor’s tape recordings in
volving Connally.
“I’m not going to stand by, vice
presidential prospects or not, and let
them besmirch me any longer,” Con
nally said Wednesday night.
According to Saylor, a study made by the Centre County
Planning Commission revealed that 57.3 per cent of the
unregistered voters over 18 in Centre County are in State
College Borough. He said distribution of the cards will be
based on where the unregistered voters are.
Saylor said there would be a second printing of the post
cards by late August and Centre County would receive more
cards at that time.
Stevenson, who had hoped to have the cards in time for Fall
Term registration, said, “My biggest concern is getting
enough cards. We’ll need at least 10,000 cards at the very
minimum,” Stevenson also plans to have a field registration
at the HUB in mid-September
Saylor said he has'agreed to help instruct people in filling
out the registration cards properly. He said cards not properly
filled out would be rejected.
Saylor said he urges anyone filling out a card to include his
or her phone number even though this item is optional. “That
way, if a card comes in with inconsistencies or uncompleted,
our office can phone the person and attempt to clear up any
discrepancies,” he said.
A rule of thumb: Good weather in State
College doesn’t last very long. Cloudy
and damp today with a few showers,
especially this morning. High of only 73.
Slowly clearing, breezy and cool tonight,
low of 56. Becoming mostly sunny and
comfortably cool tomorrow, high near 76.
Partly cloudy and cool Sunday, high
around 75.
members of Congress to express their
views,” Nessensaid.
He also said Ford intends to name his
running mate after he is nominated, if
that happens, and thus less than a day
before his choice would be voted on at
the convention.
manager of the bill, said it has
safeguards against fraud, starting with
creation of a Voter Registration
Administration within the Federal
Before settling the issue of the tuition
credit, the Senate defeated 48 to 42 a
motion by Sen. Lowell Weicker, R-Conn.,
to extend only existing individual tax
cuts and kill the rest of the bill.
Weicker, Muskie and others contended
the massive tax bill has been so weighed
down with special-interest provisions
that it contains more bad than good.
Weather