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Blood service to test for Chagas disease

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 28, 2007

TAMPA

Florida Blood Services on Tuesday began testing blood donations for Chagas disease, a parasitic infection that is a leading killer in Central and South America.

The Food and Drug Administration approved testing for Chagas on Dec. 13, but preparing local laboratories to test for it has taken some months, said Dr. German F. Leparc, chief medical officer for Florida Blood Services in St. Petersburg.

Chagas is incurable, and kills about 50,000 people a year. About 30 percent of those infected become chronically ill with heart and digestive complications, said Leparc.

Florida is not the only place where testing is being done. States with high rates of immigrants from Latin America, are prime targets for Chagas, said Leparc.

WESLEY CHAPEL

Pasco approves funds for tennis stadium

With millions of tax dollars and the proposed tennis stadium on the line, Saddlebrook resort owner Tom Dempsey served an ace Tuesday.

The County Commission voted 5-0 to pay $2.2-million more for a 5,000-seat tennis stadium next to Saddlebrook in Wesley Chapel. The vote came less than five years after the board narrowly approved the project after assurances it would cost no more than $5.7-million.

But two critics embraced it Tuesday. Commissioner Michael Cox had pilloried the project as "welfare to the rich." Commissioner Pat Mulieri was one of two votes against it in late 2002.

Both said "the train has left the station" with the prior approval, and with the other three commissioners and County Administrator John Gallagher supporting the request for additional funds.

Elsewhere

BROOKSVILLE HOSPITAL SOLD: The Hernando County Commission on Tuesday sold the old Brooksville Regional Hospital for $1.1-million. A five-member investment group plans to replace the aging buildings with the Oaks Towne Centre, a mixed-use plaza that will include shops, offices and a 60-bed assisted living facility.

FLORAL CITY LIBRARY OKAYED: Citrus County commissioners approved plans Tuesday for a $1.2-million library in Floral City. The library will open in January 2009.

CHARTER SCHOOL FIRING: Two board members of the troubled Language Academy charter school have quit, and the principal has been fired. Principal Joyce Nunn had submitted her resignation effective June 30, but the board, which is trying to stave off closure by the Pasco school district, told her to leave immediately.

[Last modified March 28, 2007, 00:16:54]