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American Morning

Elderly Connecticut Resident Infected With Inhalation Anthrax

Aired November 21, 2001 - 07:12   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: Well, now onto a life threatening situation here stateside. In Connecticut, an inhalation anthrax case which has medical investigators perplexed. Just how could a 94-year- old woman have become infected?

Well, CNN's Michael Okwu is standing by outside of Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut this morning. That's where the patient is being treated. Michael joins us now with the very latest -- Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, good morning.

According to a hospital spokesperson here at Griffin Hospital, the woman does, in fact, have inhalation anthrax. Apparently there are tests that we were waiting to hear about, the most conclusive tests taken on this woman by the CDC. Those results apparently came in this morning at about 4:30 in the morning and according to the hospital spokesperson, they apparently came back positive.

In the meantime, this victim, the latest victim of inhalation anthrax, a 94-year-old woman, is in critical condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. KENNETH DOBULER, GRIFFIN HOSPITAL: She presented with very, very non-specific symptoms, general malaise, feeling poorly, fevers, poor appetite, wouldn't eat anything, a little bit short of breath. For all of us it was difficult to believe that anthrax has entered our midst and far removed from New York City or Washington, D.C. and is now in an otherwise bucolic, rural town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, apparently the woman was driven here by a relative on Friday after apparently experiencing some pretty serious respiratory problems. They say that, authorities here say that they are completely perplexed by her situation. She has no apparent connection to any government facilities. She has no apparent connection to any postal facilities and she is a woman who lives by herself and really doesn't have much movement outside of that.

Governor John Rowland here in the state of Connecticut last night said that her case is really an anomaly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLAND: A patient who happens to be in their 90s, limited exposure in terms of traveling, a limited routine. So we're a little bit disturbed as to how this could have happened at this point. We thought it perhaps could have been natural anthrax, but that's only through contact. This is inhaled anthrax so that rules out a natural contact. So we really have no other leads at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, investigators from the FBI and the state police have sealed off her home in Oxford, a town of some 9,000 people in southwest Connecticut. They are questioning friends and family, essentially trying to trace her recent movements. The fact that she has inhalation anthrax makes her the second perplexing case in as many months, the first one being, of course, Kathy Nguyen, the 61-year-old hospital worker who died in New York last month -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, Michael Okwu, thank you very much. We'll check back with you later on.

This raises a host of questions.

And our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us now to help hopefully shed some light on this.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, a really interesting process, Leon. So a woman goes to the hospital on Friday, 94 years old, with these sort of non-specific symptoms, and subsequently is tested. And, you know, we were pointing out earlier that testing for anthrax is not something we would have done probably even a few months ago, but certainly the hospital had the presence of mind to go ahead and test and now this morning confirmed by the CDC the DNA testing coming in positive now for inhalational anthrax.

It's tough to know with these cases, Leon, exactly where she may have contracted anthrax. We thought with Kathy Nguyen it was going to be pretty easy. She traveled essentially to two places, her work, a restaurant and her apartment.

HARRIS: That's right.

GUPTA: And they swabbed the entire number six train and still came up with nothing. This woman travels to her hairdresser and occasionally out amongst friends. But also going to be very, very difficult to try and figure out exactly where this inhaled anthrax came from.

HARRIS: What do you think will be the first step in an investigation in this case, then?

GUPTA: Well, the first step certainly is to try and find -- do some environmental tests. Now that we've confirmed inhalational anthrax with a DNA test, do some environmental testing around her area, around her friends, family, people that she may have come in contact with, people that may have had letters, since that seems to be the most likely way people are getting anthrax here. But, you know, it's going to be somewhat of a public health challenge.

HARRIS: Well, considering the fact that this comes out of nowhere, I mean this is literally almost out of nowhere here, who else would they be looking at or examining for any other symptoms or any other, perhaps, cases of it around this lady there in Derby?

GUPTA: Right. Well, you know, an important thing to keep in mind is it's not contagious. What they're really going to be looking for here, Leon, is to see if there's anthrax present in the environment and other places or there are spores that somehow inadvertently got into her house, either through the mail or through some other way, again, the mail being the most common, friends' homes, things like that.

One thing that's interesting about this case, she is 94 years old so she may have been someone who actually got the symptoms of anthrax whereas other people, younger people who may have also been exposed would never develop symptoms and thus really never know.

Now, it's important to go back and check and see if those people, in fact, had exposures.

HARRIS: Right. Real quickly, just based upon what we know right now, any idea of what the prognosis may be?

GUPTA: Well, they say she's critical now, Leon. We do know if someone comes to the hospital with symptoms and are treated after the symptoms have already started, the prognosis is not as good. We have been encouraged by some of the inhalational anthrax cases thus far, but this is probably not a good sign.

HARRIS: All right, well, here's knocking on some wood looking for good luck here.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much. We'll talk with you later on.

Now, authorities in Connecticut are questioning the woman's family and her friends, as well, right now and they're just trying now to track down all of her contacts.

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