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Show Celebrate America! UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Page 13 www.utahstatesman.com Friday, Sept. 1,2006 Logan, Utah • Campus Voice Since 1902 West Nile virus comes to the valley Logan residents urged to take protective measures mosquitoes to humans through mos- pie infected may have mild or no symptoms, while severe symptoms quito bites, has also been detected Senior Writer in horses and chickens in Cache — found in about one in 150 people A Cache County resident was County. — can include high fever, neck stiffdiagnosed with West Nile Virus Researchers at Utah State University ness, stupor, disorientation, convullast week, according to a Bear River are conducting experiments on ani- sions, paralysis or death. Health Department document According to the site, residents mals they hope will one day help in released Aug. 23. can best protect themselves and fighting the virus in humans. The release stated that officials their families by: Dr. Wang Hong, Dr. thought the individual had contract• Wearing insect repelV. Siddharthan and ed the disease while in Utah County, lent with DEET. Professor John Morrey, though no other information about of the animal, dairy • Wearing pants and the person has been released. and veterinary sciences You need to know long sleeves when out"Even though this person probdoors. ably did not get the disease here, we department, are per• Wear insect repelforming "brain surgery" • Avoiding going outknow we have West Nile Virus in lent with DEET on hamsters infected doors dusk through dawn Cache County and residents must with West Nile Virus. • Wear pants and when mosquitoes are take the necessary precautions to After the animals are most active. protect themselves from this potenlong sleeves outside • Removing standing infected, a drug known tially deadly disease," said Lloyd water around homes and Berentzen, director of the Bear River as a mono-clonal anti- • Avoid being out body is applied directly businesses to prevent Health Department. doors at dawn and mosquito breeding. to the brain, a proceAccording to the Utah dure which has produsk "If you haven't lisDepartment of Health, the number vided protection against tened to the message yet, of human cases in the state has been • Remove standing the virus in some cases. now is the time to pay "rapidly increasing" and the "total water to prevent attention," Berentzen "We have some case counts as of present far exceed hope for this therapy," those from the same time last seamosquito breeding said. Siddharthan said. Persons most likely son." www.brhd.org to be bitten by an infectWhile it's not a comThis is the first human case of are those who spend West Nile Virus to be found in Cache plete solution to the virus,TTe"saicnF q p may provide help for some people in County, while Utah County has time outdoors between dusk and reported 31 human cases — account- the future. dawn. Persons over 50 years old who The Bear River Health ing for almost half of the cases in the are infected are more likely to Department's Web site states that state. There have been three human deaths according to the Department symptoms vary for those who • WEST NILE have been infected by the virus. of Health Website. see page 2 Approximately 80 percent of peoThe virus, which is spread from BY MOLLY FARMER Quick Facts Photo courtesy of Engineers Without Borders SENIOR CRISTINA NELSON helps a village in Southern Peru construct cages for guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are raised chiefly for food. USU engineers lend a hand in Peru villages ASLA volunteers time to create CAPSA garden BY ARIE KIRK Assistant News Editor After implementing three wells in Northern Peru, USU's chapter of Engineers Without Borders has begun assessing the possibility of solar-heated shower systems for towns in Southern Peru. On a trip to Peru in May, a group of engineering students evaluated the conditions of a communal bathroom and two schools in order to design the shower systems. The students who traveled in May were Cristina Nelson, Kameron Ballentine and Cody Moultrie, all seniors majoring in civil engineering. Laurie McNeill, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-adviser of Engineers Without Borders, also traveled with the students for the twoweek assessment trip. The group spent much of their time evaluating the area and studying how well water could be heated by the sun at that elevation, Nelson said. "We gathered data and made a lot of contact. We got our foot in the door to go back to implement our solar water heater project," she said, noting the group is tentatively planning to return in May. Ballentine described the Northern Peru area as having a rainy season a few months of the year, which fills the springs —the villages' main water source. It is located at a high elevation, which means winters and nights can be very cold, he said. "Their houses are mud brick, clay soil. It is not the best of insulation," Ballentine said. While they were in Peru, McNeill said the group also helped with other various projects. "We harvested potatoes and helped with general construction. We also built guinea pig cages. Guinea pigs are primarily kept for food," McNeill said. Because of the area's elevation, McNeill said it is a challenge for them to grow anything other than potatoes and corn. The students helped build greenhouses to enable the people to grow other fruits and vegetables. Moultrie said it was easy to see how appreciative people were of their work. "It was amazing to see how what little we did had such an effect on them," she said. Another group of engineering students also traveled to Peru and returned less than a week ago. These students took three pumps to install in order to build wells that would • ENGINEERS see page 2 Connections guides incoming freshmen BY D I LEWIS News Editor The highest-ever turnout — about 1,400 new students — flooded the USU campus and downtown Logan last week as part of the orientation course Connections, where they began to familiarize themselves with the college and Cache Valley. "This program is designed to help ease the transition from high school to college. We teach [the students] everything from study skills to how to find their way around campus," Ashley Thompson, • CONNECTIONS see page 2 Jamie CraneJjamiecran@ccusu.edu STUDENTS FROM THE USU CHAPTER of the American Society of Landscape Architecture volunteered their time Thursday afternoon to create a healing garden for CAPSA, The garden is meant to be a safe haven for victims of abuse to aid in their recovery process. (Clockwise from top left) Katie Gomm, a sophomore in Landscape architecture, rakes the ground to smooth the land; ASLA students lay stepping stones for the garden path; landscape architecture sophomore; Ben Levenger dons sunglasses while trimming the plant material being for the new garden. |
