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CNN Live Saturday

Anthrax Present in Letter Delivered to Reno Microsoft Subsidiary Office

Aired October 13, 2001 - 17:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A tiny bacterium is still grabbing big headlines. Nevada health officials announced about an hour ago that anthrax was indeed present in a letter delivered to the Reno offices of a subsidiary of Microsoft.

CNN's James Hattori joins us now live from Carson City. He's got the very latest -- James.

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Leon. Health officials here performed three different tests on that sample. The first one was positive. The second one was negative, and the third one as you say the results we learned just within the last hour were positive.

We have concluded that there was a sample of anthrax bacterium in that letter received at the Microsoft office, but they're still not sure what strain it was and how much of a real danger it might impose to anybody that came into contact with it, so they're sending that sample to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for more definitive DNA testing.

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GOV. KENNY GUINN, NEVADA: And we're asking them to do a DNA test, which then will allow us to determine whether or not this is a strain that is carrying an organism that would carry the disease, or which means that it is natural, or is it a vaccine strain that is manufactured?

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HATTORI: Now of course, the question is was that strain - is that strain one that poses a danger to people that come in contact with it, or was it a vaccination strain that would not pose a danger.

Now, the letter was found in an office building in South Reno, where Microsoft has an office. That letter was tampered with, apparently coming from Malaysia. It contained a check as well as some pornographic photos that contained the contaminated material. Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: James Hattori reporting live for us from Carson City, Nevada. Thank you. Now anthrax has also kicked anxiety up a notch or two in New York where an NBC employee was found to have come down with a mild form of this disease.

Our Maria Hinojosa is in New York. She has been covering that for us. Maria?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, as you can see, things here at Rockefeller Center pretty normal, lots of tourists watching the skaters in the rink, many people just having a seemingly fine time here. It's a beautiful day in New York City, but behind the scenes some important developments regarding the case of an NBC employee who tested positive for Anthrax.

Now, it had originally been thought that the employee had opened a letter addressed to Tom Brokaw that had come from St. Petersburg, Florida and that had contained a powdery white substance.

Earlier today, Mayor Giuliani clarified that in fact the letter had come from Trenton, New Jersey, had been postmarked September 18th and that it contained a brown granular substance that has today tested positive for Anthrax.

Now, the employee from NBC is being treated with antibiotics, along with another at least 200 employees here at NBC, including anchor Tom Brokaw. They're all on antibiotics.

At the New York Times yesterday, they received also a letter with a white powdery substance. That has tested negative for Anthrax, and people are continuing to be tested there. So far, about 30 employees have been placed on antibiotics.

Meanwhile, Mayor Rudy Giuliani continuing to ask New Yorkers to remain calm, to remember that anthrax is treatable when it's caught sufficiently in time with antibiotics, although there have been more interest, more busy emergency rooms. That's being reported across New York City -- Leon.

HARRIS: Maria, I hope you can clear something up for me. In following the reports this morning that have been coming in and this afternoon that have been coming out about all this, it appears there was a long lapse of time, a number of days in between when this letter was discovered to have something suspicious about it, and the date when they finally announced something to the staff there. Did you hear about that and are people there concerned about that?

HINOJOSA: Well actually, the original concern had been the letter that contained the white powdery substance and there had been a lapse of time between the time they thought about that letter and tested that letter. In the end that letter, that substance, came up being negative for Anthrax.

This other letter that contained a threat along with this brown granular substance had, in fact, been read and put back into a pile along with other threatening letters. It had not been tested since they received it here at NBC -- Leon.

HARRIS: Maria Hinojosa in New York, thank you, appreciate it.

HINOJOSA: Thank you.

HARRIS: Well, how worried are you about the threat of Anthrax? In a recent CNN/Time survey of 1,000 Americans found that 15 percent said that they are very concerned, 32 percent were somewhat concerned. More than half though, 52 percent, said they weren't worried at all.

Joining us now with a medical perspective is CNN Medical News Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. What do you think about these poll figures that we've seen coming in? We've been talking about them all afternoon.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm hoping that after more of these reports, that the 52 percent number will actually go up. I think we're seeing a lot that and that is not the concern about this. We've seen one person who has died out of 309 people in this country from Anthrax. We've learned that this is not a very effective way to actually deliver these spores, and when it is delivered, most times it is treatable, caught early, treatable.

The Public Health Department has certainly triumphed in this case, had gone ahead and screened people in all these locations, and are finding these cases before they ever become cases, so these people have no ill effects from the Anthrax in the long run.

So really, the not concerned number I think will probably increase as time goes on.

HARRIS: Well, let me ask you to clear up something that we've been hearing the past hour. In Nevada, you were sitting here, we watched this press conference with the Governor there and the doctor that was helping him explain exactly what's going on with the testing being done right now on the samples that they have from there. They're going to be done at the CDC here in Atlanta.

But, the question was whether or not what they'll be testing is going to be something that is a naturally occurring Anthrax or manufactured. Can you explain easily what the difference is between the two and what they do to the body?

GUPTA: Sure. What we're talking about here, and the government made a couple of statements about naturally versus manufactured. Anthrax does occur naturally in the soil. It occurs in several different locations around the world naturally, and the spores can last in the soil for decades.

Manufactured, what that typically refers to, is that you're changing the bacteria itself, changing the DNA even of that bacteria, to try and do something to it, usually to try and make it more antibiotic resistant. To make it be more antibiotic resistant, it can be more of a weapon. And so, you have two different things.

They have a large catalogue essentially listing all the known strains of bacteria, and if they find something that matches, they'll be able to tell whether it's naturally occurring or manufactured. Leon. HARRIS: All right, speaking of this bacteria's ability to be resistant to antibiotics, there's got to be some concern about that in the medical community, because so many people are trying to find either some sort of vaccine or antibiotic to take for this.

GUPTA: That's right and what we do know so far about these bacteria strains in Florida, is that they were actually Penicillin sensitive, meaning Penicillin could kill that, and that argued more for it being a naturally occurring thing and means that mischief wasn't played on these bacteria to try and make them more antibiotic resistant.

So, the doctors again were able to determine that pretty quickly and treat with the antibiotic that worked in this case, and not have to resort to a higher dose sort of antibiotic such as Ciprofloxacin, a more powerful antibiotic.

With vaccines as well Leon, you mentioned those, there is a vaccine out there. I actually just got off the phone with somebody from somebody from BioPort, Tom Whites (ph) who is one of the physicians from BioPort, the company that actually makes the vaccines. He gave me some optimistic news.

You know, we've been talking about eighteen months it takes before you can get immunized against Anthrax. That's certainly the FDA regulation, but what their laboratory tests are telling them is that even after a series of three shots over just one month, you may have significant immunity against Anthrax.

That's an important piece of news, one month versus eighteen months you might actually be able to protect yourself significantly against Anthrax.

HARRIS: That could be some very helpful information too. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much. We appreciate that.

Well, if you still want some more information about Anthrax, CNN.com can help. Featured on the front page there, ten things you need to know about anthrax. To find it, the AOL keyword is of course CNN.

Now, to John King in Washington.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Well Leon, easing concerns about these anthrax scares and promising the American people, the government is doing all it can to keep track of them. This is just one of the challenges facing President Bush, a very busy day for the president.

He's met with his security team up at Camp David and delivered his weekly radio address as well. Standing by for us, CNN's Kelly Wallace --Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Bush, huddling with his National Security Council via video conference from Camp David, learned Saturday of the accidental bombing of this residential area near Kabul, Afghanistan. KING: CNN's Kelly Wallace -- Kelly.

WALLACE: President Bush, huddling with his National Security Council via video conference from Camp David, learned Saturday of the accidental bombing of this residential area near Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans combed through the rubble while the injured were taken to a nearby hospital.

The Pentagon says a U.S. Navy F-18 aiming for a military helicopter near the Kabul Airport, missed that target by a mile. In a statement, the Pentagon said "we regret the loss of any civilian life. U.S. forces are intentionally striking only military and terrorist targets."

This is at least the second time a bomb has gone astray. Earlier in the week, U.S. officials said an errant missile may have caused the deaths of four Afghan U.N. workers. The Defense Secretary says unfortunately innocent lives will be lost during a war.

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DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's no question but that when one is engaged militarily, that there are going to be unintended loss of life.

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WALLACE: In his weekly radio address, Mr. Bush made no mention of the misses and called the first phase of the military campaign a success.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: American forces dominate the skies over Afghanistan and we will use that dominance to make sure terrorists can no longer freely use Afghanistan as a base of operations.

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WALLACE: Despite the aerial bombardment, the Taliban remains defiant, rejecting Mr. Bush's second chance offer, with leader Mullah Mohammed Omar calling on Muslims around the world to help defend Afghanistan, saying "the Muslims should be with Islam, not with Bush. With truth, not lies."

Back in the United States, jitters over Anthrax and an FBI alert that there could be more terrorist attacks. The President, in what has become an almost daily mantra, tries to calm a nervous nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I understand that many Americans are feeling uneasy, but all Americans should be assured we are taking strong precautions.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WALLACE: And he encourages Americans to get back to normal. As a sign of that, Mr. Bush is continuing to keep a previously scheduled trip this week to China, but all the while he'll be keeping an eye on the War Against Terror in Afghanistan and at home. John?

KING: Well, Kelly a difficult balance yet again. We bring this question up regardless of the issue before us. This one on the Anthrax scare, the President saying the government is doing all it can, yet we see in public the Attorney General saying there's a criminal investigation. The Secretary of Health and Human Services trying to reassure the American people there are enough vaccines available.

Once again, the President having to juggle the balance with how much do you say in public, how much do you leave to the private?

WALLACE: Absolutely John and it really continues to be sort of a delicate balancing act that the White House is sort of finding its way as it goes along.

Take for example Friday, Mr. Bush learning about this case early Friday, the administration deciding to have some administration officials go out quickly, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, to get the facts out to the American people. But, the administration not really deciding it appears until kind of late in the afternoon to have the President address this issue.

So, it's a balancing act all along, how much do you say? The administration trying to get the facts out, but also trying not to alarm the American people -- John.

KING: Kelly Wallace, standing by near Camp David, Maryland. Thank you very much. My apologies for the little mix-up at the top of your piece there.

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