Republican

f
firus passed through milk, water
Strep throat thrives in Johnson County
?
By MARY WAGNER
Staff Writer
Johnson County led the state last
year in the number o( reported strep
throat cases.
The number of reported incidents of
the disease reached the 1.000 mark, or
one third of all reported strep throat
cases in the stale, and the proportion
is expected to remain the same this
year.
Uispute
Johnson County and State Health
Department officials dispute the
reason for the large number of local
persons subject to this disease.
A I though it is not a complete answer.
the County Health Department
feels that environmental factors are
"a big aspect of the problem that's
being ignored."
The streptococcus organism
spread through unprocessed or Improperly
processed milk and waler.
Exhaled in breathing, the bug can settle
on dust particles in the air
breathed in by other people. making
poor building ventilation another
possible cause of infection.
"We can't geographically or
econom ically isolate poor environ·
mental conditions." said Lyle Fisher.
director of the Johnson County health
department. "We 're too locked into
required work."
lleqllest
A $170.000 request for federal funds.
intended partially to provide money
for additional health sanitarians to investigate
possible disease producing
environments, has been rejected by
the state health department three
times since last spring.
Attributes
The State Department of Health attributes
the high incidence of strep
throat in Johnson County not so much
to environmental factors as to the
presence of the state hygiene
laboratory and the University of Iowa
in Johnson County.
"With the close proximity of the
state hygiene lab, physicians are
more likely to send in throat cultures
and more strep cases are reported,"
said Dr, Robert Wallace, professor in
the College of Medicine.
Fisher questioned the eHeet of the
state hygiene lab's proximity, saying
that if good reporting were the cause
of the high attack rate for strep throat
in Johnson County. the figures (or
other communicable diseases would
be equa lIy as high.
"They don't have a quick and easy
diagnosis and test for some other
things like they do for strep." coun·
tered Dr. Wallace.
Lower
Questioning the effect of the dense
university population. Fisher pointed
out that the attack rate for strep
throat at other university communities
in the state is much lower
than the Johnson County.
The fourth draft of the county's
grant proposal goes to the state health
department in JanU4ry.
Oil shortage hampers drug production
tre more
'yOu'll wont
earavelle
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BUlova
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NEW YORK IAPI - Although
petrochemicals are in
short suppl~' at home because of
the energ~' crisis. Commerce
Department figures show that
petrochemical exports from
Janua r~ ' through October were
above 1972 levels.
Petrochemicals. which are
deri\'ed from petroleum and
natural gas. are vital to the
manufacture of such \'aried
products as drugs, plastics and
synthetic fibers.
The U.S. drug industry. a big
user of petrochemicals. warned
last week that domestic shortages
could put medicines in
short supply this winter. Manufacturers
of other products dependent
on petrochemicals
have issued similar warnings of
cutbacks.
November figures are not yet
Miami's problem is
worse than sparrows
MIAMI. Fla. IAPI - ~ : ach dav maintenance men climb to the
roof of the Dade Count,\' Courthouse where they flap their arms.
, wa\'e brooms. sticks and rolled newspapers in a vain attempt to
dissuade dozens of \'ultures from roosting on the building.
For 30 ~'ears the roof of the 28-story courthouse has been a
favorite da~ ·time perch for the vultures which fly South in October
to avoid the winter cold.
The maintenance men say the vultures cause problems because
Iheir feathers clog drainage pipes along the edge of the roof. oc­
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