Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Anthrax Investigation Continues in New York; Interview With Dr. Robert Belshe
Aired November 02, 2001 - 09:08 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now the anthrax investigation. Traces of contamination are found in more areas and overseas while the effort to solve a mystery stalls. Anthrax, or traces of the bacteria, have now been detected in seven states and the District of Columbia and overseas. We have reports the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania has confirmed the finding of anthrax traces in a diplomatic mailbag. Back here in the U.S., authorities still have no clues in the death of a New York woman, CNN's Jason Carroll is outside the Manhattan hospital where the woman worked. Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Miles. Doctors took a culture from Kathy Nguyen, and they were able to -- able to determine that the strain of anthrax that killed her is the same strain of anthrax sent in letters to Senator Tom Daschle and to various news organizations, including NBC News. That could indicate that that bacteria came from the same source.
But in terms of trying to figure out how Kathy Nguyen was exposed to anthrax, investigators at this point are quite frankly -- they're stumped. They simply do not know how she was exposed to anthrax. What they're doing is, they've taken environmental samples from a hospital where she works, Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital, they've also taken samples from her apartment in the Bronx. So far, all of those tests results have come back negative.
In other developments, more test results are now back from the Morgan Processing Facility. Miles, you may remember, that is the mail processing facility in Manhattan, and one of the largest in Manhattan, and traces of anthrax were found on four of the mail sorting machines up on third floor. More test results are back. Two more machines were found to have traces of anthrax there. That brings the total number of machines there to six.
Health officials are now recommending that the employees there take an additional 50 day supply of Cipro. That's what they're recommending there. But that is not good enough for the postal union. Miles, they want that facility shut down, and what they have done is they have asked a federal judge to shut down the facility, but for now that facility remains open. As for as Manhattan Eye, Ear, Throat Hospital, it remains closed while more environmental tests are completed. Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jason Carroll in Manhattan. Thank you very much. It has been about 22 years since the world has had to deal with smallpox. Health officials say we can thank routine vaccinations for that. But the vaccine used years ago, called Dryvax, is no longer being produced, and there's only a limited supply left. And that's the reason for some concern in this environment. Dr. Robert Belshe is director for the Center for Vaccine Development at St. Louis University School of Medicine. He joins us this morning from there. Good to have you with us, sir.
DR. ROBERT BELSHE, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT, ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Good morning, Miles.
O'BRIEN: How serious a concern is smallpox used as an implement of bioterror?
BELSHE: Well, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has had ongoing program to reevaluate the old smallpox vaccine for several years now. And there is real concern that we need additional vaccine supply. So that one thing the Institute is doing is reevaluating the vaccine to see if it could be diluted, and perhaps stretch the existing nation's supply of vaccine.
O'BRIEN: All right, I want to talk about that in just a minute and get into the technicalities of that a bit, but first I want to share with you and our viewers an interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, just earlier this week, let's listen for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I want to tell all Americans that we are going to have a vaccine for smallpox with their name on it for every American in America. Man, woman, or child, and every person in military.
O'BRIEN: Doctor Belshe, is that realistic? He's talking about a lot of vaccine.
BELSHE: Well, he's talking about making 300 million doses and storing that in case it's needed for future. So yes, it's certainly possible to make that amount of vaccine and store it.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about this dilution of the smallpox vaccine. Obviously, if you dilute it, you have more doses. How can doctors and researchers be certain it would work?
BELSHE: Well, we have what we believe to be about 15 million doses of vaccine stored at the CDC already. Last year, the vaccine evaluation unit at St. Louis University compared undiluted vaccine to dilutions of one and 10, and one in 100, and we found that the undiluted vaccine gave a 95 percent response rate, and that one in 10 gave a 70 percent response rate with a single application of vaccine, and one in a 100 was very low. So what we are now looking at is a dilution of one in 10 and one in 5, and instead of giving it just once, we're applying the vaccine and those persons who do not have a response by day seven, we're reapplying the vaccine. So for example, if in fact, this larger new study confirms that a one in 10 dilution gives 70 percent response rate with a single application, and we repeat that a week later and get another 70 percent of the remaining 30 percent, that would be 21 percent of the original. We would have over 90 percent response rate with two doses of a one in 10 dilution.
O'BRIEN: Doctor Belshe, that's an awful lot of numbers for people to digest. I think the bottom line they want to know is, can you create enough vaccine quickly enough to answer the threat, and how realistic is this threat?
BELSHE: The realistic realism of the threat is really for others to answer. That's for the government to advise us on. In terms of what can we do to stretch the nation's supply, this ongoing study will provide the information needed to the public health authorities on how to maximize use of the existing vaccine.
O'BRIEN: How quickly could you ramp up and have, say, 300 million doses on hand?
BELSHE: From what I read, is the government has asked for, sometime next year, to have that vaccine ready.
O'BRIEN: Sometime next year. All right. And just quickly, for those of us who were vaccinated against smallpox when we were young, is that any sort of guarantee?
BELSHE: People who were vaccinated many decades ago are probably partially protected, but not completely protected against smallpox.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dr. Robert Belshe, who is with the Center for Vaccine Development at St. Louis University, thanks for being with us this morning.
BELSHE: Good morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
