Veritas, Vol. 21, No. 02, September 8, 1980

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For the Faculty, Staff and Friends of the University of Miami
Voi. 21, No. 2 September 8,1980
University of Miami scientists believe they have found an accurate, quick, painless and inexpensive way to diagnose Legionnaire’s Disease.
Medical scientists were mystified by the disease which took the lives of 31 delegates at the 1976 American Legion Convention in Philadelphia. They could at first discover neither the cause of the ailment nor the manner in which it was spread.
UM School of Medicine scientists Alberto Castro, Ph.D., pathology, and his associates, Drs. Timothy Cleary, pathology; Peter A. Buschbaum, microbiology; and Mario Saldana, pathology; said they can spot four strains of Legionella pneumo-philia, the guilty bacterium, in sputum samples. Lancet, Great Britain’s prestigious medical magazine, has accepted an abstract of the article they were writing.
If the culpable Legionella strain can be quickly identified, Castro said, the physician can promptly prescribe the antibiotic specific for that strain without wasting precious time. Moreover, he said, Legionella often mimics viral infections which antibiotics do not control and may even aggravate.
Legionella was formerly identified only after bacteria had been laboriously grown in culture for fluorescent tests, sometimes after the patient had expired. L pneumo-philia is a fastidious bacterium which is
Alberto Castro, Ph.D.
difficult to grow in the laboratory.
The process developed by Castro and his colleagues is to collect sputum from the patient. Antibodies which react to the antigens in the sputum are grown in mice. When "Horse-Radish” enzyme peroxidase is added to the antigen, a brown precipitate forms if the Legionella is present.
The test is quick and will cost perhaps $25 per person, he believes.
A National Institutes of Health grant supports the work, not only in early detection of Legionnaire’s Disease but in the
Academic achievement doesn't go unrewarded at UM
One hundred and eleven of UM’s top undergraduate students received tuition awards totaling $142,429 for the fall semester.
The students were notified by letter that they qualified for a Merit Award in the form of a partial tuition waiver, because of their outstanding academic achievements. $56,085 was divided among 26 students with perfect 4.0 accumulative averages. Another $86,344 was earmarked for 85 students with grade point averages ranging from 3.99 to 3.85.
The most that students with perfect averages received was a $2,200 credit for the year while $1,100 is the highest award given to the other 103 students. The average award is for $1,055 per semester. Other financial aid students receive was considered in determining the dollar amounts of the Merit Awards.
To qualify for the awards, students had to have earned 30 credits at the UM, including 12 in the spring semester, and enroll for a minimum of 12 credits this fall.
Dr. Howard Pospesel, professor of philosophy, chairs the Presidential Scholarship Committee. He suggested the idea of merit awards and worked closely to develop the program with fellow philosopher and committee member Dr. Leonard Carrier.
Carrier says the awards are unique because they are given on the basis of a student’s performance at the University. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of a student’s performance in high school and promise of achievement.
"The awards,” he says, "are not only an incentive for students to do well, but also a means of rewarding the best students and showing the University’s appreciation for their contribution to the quality of the institution.”
Last spring, the University awarded $72,000 to 117 students through the same
program. Grants are made on a one-time basis with University funds. Encouraged by the positive response to the program, the Presidential Scholarship Committee is now working with volunteer support groups such as the Alumni Association, the Citizens Board and Endowment Committee of the Development Office, to raise funds specifically for the Merit Awards.
area of public health. When Legionella is suspected as the cause of respiratory disease outbreaks, air conditioners, shower heads, reservoirs and streams may be tested as possible sites of Legionella colonies. In Philadelphia the bacteria apparently attached themselves to dust particles and rode air-conditioning currents.
Retrospective studies are also possible. The department of pathology has preserved lung tissue in cases that were diagnosed as pneumonia—or not diagnosed at all—over a period of many years. The test permits rediagnosis so that death causes may be better understood.
The Journal of the American Medical
Association reported recently that Legionnaire’s Disease may kill up to 70,000 persons a year, many of the deaths mistakenly attributed to one of the pneu monias or other respiratory diseases. Diagnosis is difficult because patients are often elderly and have other diseases that mask Legionnaire’s Disease. "Until prospective diagnostic techniques become available, recognition of the disease must depend on clinical acumen if mortality is to be kept within reasonable limits,” the report said.
The UM study may remove Legionnaire’s Disease diagnosis from the realm of medical inspiration.
Mid-Century Campaign tops $100 million murk
The University of Miami’s five-year Mid-Century Campaign has exceeded $100 million in total gifts, grants, pledges and expectancies toward the goal of $129 million, reports Neil Schiff, member of the UM’s Board of Trustees and President of Schiff Construction Company of Miami.
In a recent progress report, Schiff said the campaign, scheduled for completion in October 1981, is ahead of schedule.
Total private cash gifts and grants received by the UM during fiscal 1979-80 amounted to $17,440,985. This compares with the prior fiscal period’s total of $15,051,553.
Gifts and pledges of $1,517,463 were secured by the Citizens Board; $828,658 through the UM Alumni Association’s telephone campaign; deferred gifts and expectancies, $8,642,933; private gifts and grants from Broward, Palm Beach and Collier Counties, $996,092; and cash support from national foundations and corporations, $7,816,908.
Comparative figures reported recently in The Chronicle of Higher Education show a national gain in private gifts and grants of 6.3 percent. The UM exceeded the national average with an increase of
15.8 percent in private gifts over the previous fiscal year.
Gifts to UM projects continue to be spread among all campuses impacting virtually every school and academic department as well as capital projects and student aid.
Schiff said unrestricted dollars recorded $680,593 during fiscal 1979-80— four percent of total private gifts and grants secured by the UM.
In addition to Schiff, 1979-80 members of the Mid-Century Campaign executive committee were Stanley Arkin, Emil Gould, Edward Fogg III, William Campbell, Patrick Cesarano, Dennis Clum and Melvin Greenberg. Also, Arthur Hertz, Lonnie Kantor, Michael Leone, Donald Mariutto, Floyd Osterman, M.D., Robert Paul and Harold Walker.
The Mid-Century goal is divided into eight major categories: unrestricted operations, $10 million; student financial aid, $3 million; academic and co-curricular programs, $9.275 million; capital improvements, $18.445 million; athletics, $2.910 million; endowment, $12.5 million; research (private) $26.5 million, and deferred gifts, $46.5 million.
From left to right are students Marina Blanco, lleana Blanco, Heldo Gomez and Karl Henck, all recipients of merit awards; and judy Marty, financial aid; Dr. Leonard Carrier, philosophy and Ron Hammond, financial aid.