a cs_Casthigitt News ays, 19 MEDICINE: Researchers test in’Alberta By NORMA GREENAWAY Canadian Press A tiny farming community in the flatlands of northern Alberta has proven a gold mine for a team of U.S. medical researchers attempting to unravel the mysteries of a horrible disease with a beautiful name. Four years ago, David Janzen, now 41, walked into a medical centre in Rochester, N.Y., seeking an explanation for his uncontrollable body jerks and strange grunting noises. Dr. Roger Kurlan, who quickly decided Janzen was suffering from Tourette Syndrome, knew he had hit pay dirt as soon as Janzen said several members of his family in La Crete, Alta., suffer from a similar problems. At least, Kurlan thought, he and his colleagues would have a chance to establish hereditary patterns for the humilitating disease, “As soon as he came in, we knew that we had an important source for research that was potentially very valuabie,” Kurlan,’ an assistant professor of neurology at Rochester University, said in a telephone interview. Within months Kurlan and his research team arrived in the isolated Mennonite farming community 350 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, to interview and videotape srarel dozen members of the Janzen family. The team, which later visited other relatives. in Saskatchewan, also took blood samples for use in trying to determine which specific gene is responsible for the disease, “We were the first (Tourette researhcers) to go out and interview an extet family,” he said. This allowed the team to see first-ha: w the disease strikes with a wide range of severities, from mild tics to bizarre behavior. Kurlan called the trip a real “eye opener,” because he had not realized that Tourette Syndrome might be more common than generally believed. Other studies have relied on patients who visited doctors, which meant they usually displayed the most severe symptoms. These include violent jerking and grunting and barking sounds, as well as uncontrollable outbursts of profanities. Not surprisingly, Tourette Syndrome is also known as the “cursing sickness.” Its victims were at one time believed to be possessed by the devil. For his part, David Janzen had never heard of Tourette Syndrome or George Gilles de la Tourette, the French physician who gave the illness its name by publishing a ik ia paper on movement disorders more. than 100 years mene he was “thrilled” to be finally able to put a name to the affliction which has caused him acute embarrassment since he was a child and has prevented him from hdélding a Janzen also said it was a huge relief to be told his problems were neither psycholgoical nor the result of 's disease, a prog illness that was the original diagnosis for Janzen's condition. But Janzen, who is married with four children, one of whom has a mild form of the disease, is fed up. with his inability to work or do normal everyday tasks without his body convulsing into uncontrollable jerks. “It's always in my way,” he said. “If I'm under pressure it's worse. If I'm tired it’s worse, And it’s tiring to keep the ties under control.” There are also the times when he is travelling and meeting strangers. “Everybody looks at me and wonders what is.going on,” he said. “I like meeting people. I haven't become a mole. But it's embarrassing.” CAUSE UNKNOWN At this point, there is no known cause, cure or effective CHICKEN BLAMED FOR SALMONELLA CALGARY (CP) — Salmonella poisoning in Canada is on the rise and poultry is the major culprit, federal scientists say. And they admit they haven't gained much ground in trying to correct the problem. “I would say 65 to 70 per cent of the chicken you and I buy at the supermarket is contaminated,” said Hermy Lior of the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control in Ottawa. The federal Agriculture Department, which began monitoring salmonella levels in 1979, put the . Lior said the actual incidence is 1 times greater than the number of reported cases, Other medical experts say the contamination rate is 30 times higher. Statistics Canada said 19 Canadians died of salmonella poisoning in 1985. All, were over 60, an age group which, along with young children, is particularly susceptible. Frank Tittiger, chief of safety for the federal Agriculture Department's meat hygiene division, said poultry is the major culprit. Reducing the contamination level in poultry is diffieult because the bacteria are so pervasive, he said from Ottawa, and “can cross-contaminate food in the kitchen. “It's a complex problem because breeding flocks and feed is contaminated.” Industry officials say the problem isn’t as severe as scientists maintain. “['m a producer and from our end of it we've done our hatcheries, tion rate in poultry at 55 to 60 per cent. “There's no way at the present time we can reduce the contamination of chicken at the retail level,” Lior said in a telephone interview Tuesday. The microbiologist said the number of reported cases of salmonella poisoning jumped to 9,861 in 1986 from 7,128 the year before. Salmonella is the general name for a group of almost 2,000 bacteria that can develop in the intestinal tract of animals and grow on food left out at room temperature. Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include stomach cramps, vomiting, fever and diarrhea. CAN BE SERIOUS In the mid-1970s about 5,000 people fell victim to the food poisoning, an illness often mistaken for stomach flu but which can cause serious illness or even death. utmost to in sanitary conditions to the best level we can,” said Stettler-area farmer Dave Falkenberg, chairman of the Alberta Broiler Growers. Marketing Board. Falkenberg said contamination rates cited are too high. Tittiger said several methods being tested to reduce the incidence of salmonella show promise. The methods include adding chlorine dioxide to chilling tanks in processing plants, chlorinating the birds’ drinking water and irradiating food, a process still to be approved by the federal Health and Welfare Department. More research is needed before recommendations can be made to the poultry industry, said Tittiger. “Ideally, we would like to see salmonella completely wiped out,” he said. “But for now, we must focus our efforts on getting the levels as low as possible.” CELGAR PULP COMPANY CELGAR PULP COMPANY What's In a Name? We are 380 odd, but unique, local citizens working ata Pulp Mill a few miles north of Castle- CELGAR PULP COMPANY NVdWOD difd aV9139 gar, and we have a complaint — or should we say —a goose to pluck with YOU! For 27 years we have made Celgar Pulp at the Celgar Pulp Mill on the Celgar Road and our children have told their friends that father or for the disease, which Kurlan said is found the world over. But the discovery of the La Crete family, which has kept excellent family records dating back to the 1800s, and two large American ‘families with the disease has improved the odds of unlocking its secrets. Kurlan said people with Tourette Syndrome often go for years without accurate diagnosis, which causes untold suffering among parents who blame themselves for their children’s behavior. Among the most vexing symptoms in some cases is a compulsion to make obscene gestures. “It's traditionally been thought to be a psychiatric or psychological corfdition, so most of the theories have involved Freudian, psychological types of concerns,” he said. “It's only recently, within the last five years or so, that Tourette Syndrome has really been considered to be a neurological, neurochemical illness.” Kurlan said misdiagnosis is common because medical schools have generally taught that Tourette Syndrome is always accompanied by involuntary swearing. SWEARING RARE “This is indeed not the case,” he said, adding that recent evidence suggests that less than 20 per cent of Tourette victims make noises that evolve a ypeoutroliable outbursts of obscenities. With few exceptions, Kurlan said, his aise team was welcomed in La Crete. “Most were very enthusiastic about speaking to us and diseussing Tourette Syndrome,” Kurlan said. “They are very happy that it is an accepted medical condition and that it does not have the stigma of a psychological problem.” The Rochester research team hopes to make a follow-up} visit to La Crete this summer and also begin field work with the two U.S. families, in Michigan and Ohio. Researchers are trying to identify the defective gene linked to Tourette Syndrome and find out what the gene is doing improperly, Once that is established, efforts can be put into finding ways of treating the illness and preventing it, Kurlan said. 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