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American Morning

Anthrax Scare: Son of ABC Producer With Cutaneous Anthrax Is Doing Well

Aired October 16, 2001 - 10:01   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.
Catherine Callaway, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we want to turn our attention back to the anthrax scare now. Investigators spanning out across the country, chasing down leads and checking out new reports of suspicious packages.

Here is a look at what we know now. As we told you earlier, the seven-month-old son of an ABC News employee has been diagnosed with the skin form of anthrax. In Florida, there is word that a second employee at American Media has come down with the inhaled form of anthrax. That is much more serious than the skin form. And the anthrax scare also extends to the nation's capitol. A letter sent to Majority Leader Tom Daschle tested positive for anthrax. Investigators say the letter sent to Daschle was postmarked in Trenton, New Jersey, as was another anthrax-contaminated letter that was sent to NBC's Tom Brokaw.

Health officials say they also found a very small amount of anthrax at a Postal Service mail sorting facility in Boca Raton, Florida. Our correspondents are following every angle of this story, exactly where it is happening.

Our Jason Carroll is in New York, Kate Snow is on Capitol Hill, and CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to put the whole thing in perspective for us. But, let's begin in New York with Jason Carroll. Jason, good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Catherine. I can tell you that that seven-month-old baby boy is responding well to antibiotics. He is doing well. He is expected to make a full recovery. The baby, as you said, is the son of an ABC producer. He has a skin form of anthrax, which is easily treatable with antibiotics.

The way we understand it authorities say that this baby boy contracted the dis -- contracted the disease while visiting ABC on September 28th. Apparently he was here for a birthday party. Shortly after that visit to ABC, he became sick. His arm became swollen, his parents initially thought he had a spider bite. They took him to the hospital. The doctors were trying figure out exactly what was wrong with him.

Eventually, tests done by the Centers for Disease Control confirmed that the baby did in fact have a form of anthrax. Given what has happened here at ABC and at NBC -- where an employee contracted the disease after opening a letter addressed to Tom Brokaw, health officials are doing environmental checks of several news organizations. ABC, as you might expect, our own offices at CNN are being checked as well, as well at CBS and the Associated Press, just to name a few.

This is a precautionary measure only. Now, earlier today, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was a guest on CNN, and he talked about the progress of this new investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: We don't know yet where the agent was released, if it was. Was it all at ABC? There were no symptoms at ABC, in other words, there aren't any -- any people describing symptoms. If people contracted cutaneous anthrax as a result of something happening on September 28th, we would be seeing evidence of that at this point.

So from what I was told by the CDC and the health people, that -- that was a very wise decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL:` Last night the president of ABC News held a press conference. He says now is the time for calm. The network will conduct business as usual.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WESTIN, PRESIDENT, ABC NEWS: I think with great respect, with great respect, I think that anyone thinks that ABC News is not going to function effectively because of this is greatly underestimating the men and women at ABC News. We are determined about what we are doing; we are smart enough to figure out what the truth is and to put it in perspective and not to overreact. We will go about our business. We will be prudent; we will be careful; we will protect our people. But we will continue to report the news the way we always have. This is not going to slow us down one bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, that seven-month-old baby boy is doing well and he is responding to antibiotics. And once again, he is expected to make a full recovery. Catherine?

CALLAWAY: Jason, that is wonderful news about the child. Now, you're right there at door of ABC. Employees coming in and out. Have you spoken with any of them? How are they feeling about all this this morning?

CARROLL: Absolutely, Catherine. We had an opportunity to speak with several ABC News employees as they were coming to work this morning, and they basically said that they are not afraid to go to work. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com