Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Interview with Marc Siegel

Aired September 02, 2002 - 11:29   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And for more perspective on the investigation into whether West Nile can be transmitted through blood and organ donors, Dr. Marc Siegel, an internist and assistant professor at New York University, joins us live this morning.
Good morning.

DR. MARC SIEGEL, INTERNIST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Is it amazing to you that they were able to connect the dots like this anyway?

SIEGEL: No, I think that this is expected, because first of all, we have always speculated that this type of thing could be transmitted by organ donation or even by blood transfusion. In fact, malaria had 93 cases of blood transfusion-related illness in the past year, and this is a similar type of thing.

And this woman received 37 transfusions, because she was in a car accident. So it's very conceivable that it could be transmitted this way.

COSTELLO: How difficult will it be for the CDC to determine that this is the cause of these people who were getting the organ donations -- the cause for them getting West Nile, too?

SIEGEL: It will be pretty easy for them to determine whether all four of these recipients have West Nile. It's going to be more difficult for them to determine if the woman had West Nile and whether she actually got it from a transfusion or from a mosquito.

Part of the problem here is that donor recipients are very susceptible to get very sick, because they are already on immunosuppressant drugs, and that's the real danger of the situation. But if you are receiving a live-saving organ donation, you have to, you know, take a very slight risk.

COSTELLO: Well, should there be changes in our blood donor system, in light of this discovery?

SIEGEL: Absolutely not. We're already having a scarcity of blood donation this year. And as Elizabeth said before, I think, you know, we should be carefully screening people for fever and for aches and pains, you know, that might be associated with a viral illness. We already do that. Unfortunately, there is a two-week window, where you could be asymptomatic, not have any symptoms, and be carrying something like this. What the CDC will work on is a rapid screening test to try to be able to isolate West Nile before somebody gets sick from it, and that will improve the screening.

COSTELLO: But there is no way through testing someone's blood in the early stages of West Nile to figure out if they have it, right?

SIEGEL: Exactly, Carol, not right now, but that's something that we're definitely working on.

But I would definitely caution that the risk here is extremely low. There have only been 638 cases, which seem like a lot, but nationwide, there are a lot of people receiving blood transfusions in very dangerous life-threatening situations. They need to consider the risks of something unseen, but they should be reassured that the blood supply has never been safer than it is right now.

COSTELLO: Well, I think what's scaring a lot of people is we are just starting to hear about more and more cases of West Nile virus every year.

SIEGEL: That's true, and that's why public health officials have to be very vigilant to track this. People should really be very careful about leaving stagnant water in the backyard and wearing long sleeves and not going out in high-risk times -- places in the country, like the southwest and the southeast, where there are more mosquitoes are also problematic.

But I think people have already a higher level of concern, and I think that's good.

COSTELLO: That's good, but we shouldn't be, like, scared out of our wits about this.

SIEGEL: Absolutely not -- absolutely not. This is a very low- risk situation compared to the common flu, which kills about 20,000 people per year. That's a much riskier disease than this.

COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Marc Siegel, thank you for enlightening us. We appreciate it.

SIEGEL: Thank you, Carol.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.