Vol. 105 Issue 42
@thepittnews HEALTH
Thursday,October 2, 2014
Pittnews.com
Pitt lacks resources to develop Ebola vaccine Jess Muslin Staff Writer
As Ebola continues to spread through African countries, and now, with one case confirmed in the United States, many people have expressed worry that the virus will find its way to their cities and towns. But, according to experts, it’s unlikely the disease will have similar effects in the United States. While Pitt has historically contributed developments to vaccines, the University does not have the proper biosafety level clearance to work on Ebola, which is a level-4 disease. One of Pitt’s most famous accolades is the development of the polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk and his team. The vaccine began widespread use in 1955 and eradicated the disease in the United States. More recently, researchers at Pitt have been working to develop a vaccine for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Dr. Amy Hartman, research manager of
CITY
the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory and assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, has done extensive work with the Ebola virus during her career. Hartman conducted her post-doctoral research with the CDC in Atlanta from 2003 to 2007. During her time there, she worked on curing the Ebola virus. In 2005, she worked in Africa in a post-diagnostic lab that tested patient samples for Ebola. “I think it [Ebola] is very serious in Africa in general,” Hartman said. “But there is no huge risk to the U.S. or other developed countries.” According to Hartman, the United States and other first-world countries have such strong health systems that, if someone brought Ebola into the country, it would not cause an epidemic like the one in Africa. “If someone came here who was infected, it would be stopped pretty quickly,” Hart-
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Dash for doughnuts: CMU fraternity hosts ALS fundraiser Kathy Zhao Staff Writer
For those who can stomach it, try running two miles after eating six sweet, glazed, iced, creamfilled and jelly doughnuts. The Donut Dash 2014 is a race on Oct. 5 sponsored by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Carnegie Mellon University. Participants, in-
cluding Pitt students, will run a mile-long route along Forbes Avenue twice. The event, which will raise money for the Pittsburgh-based ALS foundation LiveLikeLou.org, begins at the parking lot at the intersection of Morewood and Forbes avenues. Those in the competitive division have to run the two miles, stopping between the miles at the race’s starting point
where they will eat the doughnuts. “There’s a casual division of the race where you don’t have to eat the doughnuts, you can just run the two miles,” said Peter Pacent, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the dash’s event manager. “In the competitive division, though, you get disqualified if you don’t eat all six before starting the second mile.”
Sigma Alpha Epsilon expects roughly 100 people to participate in the competitive division. The fraternity has raised more than $50,000 so far from registration money — approximately double last year’s number, Pacent said.
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