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American Morning
TB Investigation: CDC Issues Global Health Alert; Gas Challenge
Aired May 30, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Flight risk. Tests urged for hundreds of air travelers exposed to an extreme form of tuberculosis. This morning, new details about the infected passenger. The overseas honeymoon he refused to skip. And the doctor's orders he ignored, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Thanks for joining us. It's Wednesday, May the 30th. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Good to see you this morning.
ROBERTS: Always good to see you.
CHETRY: Some stories "On Our Radar" today.
The whales are nearly home free. We followed this saga it seems like, what, for two to three weeks now or longer.
ROBERTS: A couple of weeks.
CHETRY: And finally, the who whales, Delta and Dawn, mom and baby, both of them injured, made a major push toward the Golden Gate Bridge overnight and now are just two miles from the open waters of the Pacific Ocean, right where they're supposed to be. You know, I was thinking, they got turned around when they were supposed to be on their way to Alaska, I believe. So even after they make it into the salty water of the Pacific, they have a long trip ahead of them.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, it's the sort of thing that whales do.
CHETRY: That's true.
ROBERTS: I'm sure they're ready for the trip.
Incredible pictures from Minneapolis for you this morning. Take a look at this. A huge house fire traps firefighters inside. The only way that they could get out was to make a desperate leap out the window and then head first down a ladder. Take a look at that. We'll show you more of those pictures this morning. Just incredible stuff. This fire started on the porch and then within moments the entire house was engulfed.
CHETRY: And that's where you see their training pay off. They knew exactly what to do and they executed it perfectly.
Also, Lindsay Lohan in rehab. Britney's out of rehab. It's really hard to keep track of the young . . .
ROBERTS: It's like a revolving door.
CHETRY: It really is.
Well, we're talking about that, plus the auction of the Jackson family memorabilia. Everything from Michael Jackson's red leather jacket with the zippers, to notes and letters sent from different family members.
A lot to talk about with our new pop culture correspondent. Lola Ogunnaike joins us this morning.
Welcome. Welcome to the AMERICAN MORNING family.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited.
CHETRY: And are you going to be biding on any of the Jackson items?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, I was thinking of buy you a little Tito something. I'll tell you a little later. But, you know, up on my auction . . .
ROBERTS: There's no such thing as a little Tito thing.
CHETRY: A little Tito goes a long way, right.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Lola. We'll talk to you soon.
We're learning more about the man who sparked a global health alert this morning and why he traveled overseas even after he was diagnosed with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. He is now under the first U.S. government ordered quarantine in decades. So serious there is an armed guard posted outside his hospital door.
This morning's "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" says the man had plans to get married and honeymoon in Europe. So he flew from Atlanta to Paris on May the 12th. The Centers for Disease control says when it learned that the TB was a dangerous drug resistant strain, it contacted him and his bride in Rome asking him to turn himself in to Italian authorities, be isolated in the hospital and treated there.
Instead, in an attempt to evade the no-fly list that the CDC had put him on, he and his wife traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic, flew to Montreal and then drove back into the United States. The search is on right now for international travelers who may have come into contact with him.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is live at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. That's where Dr. Gupta operates and where the man is now being treated in isolation.
Sanjay, what's the latest on this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly what you're saying. We're trying to get a sense of just how sick he is. He is in an isolation room. It's specifically called a respiratory isolation room right here in the hospital behind me.
You know, Grady Hospital is one of these hospitals, like other hospitals across the country, that has to maintain an isolated ward because they have so many patients who require isolation for different reasons. So there's a specific ward dedicated to this. Patients are put into these what are called negative air pressure rooms. So air is never blown out of the room into the hallways or into other rooms, but always sucked into that room. People wear masks on this particular floor and that's where he's been taken care of.
He doesn't have a lot of options, as we've talked about quite a bit, John. He has what's known as extensively drug resistant TB. That means most of the drugs simply won't work to try and treat him. But still, they're going to give him symptomatic treatment and see what antibiotics might still be able to take care of him.
ROBERTS: The real worry, Sanjay, was how many people this fellow came in contact with on these flights, the first one that he took over to Paris, the second one that he took from Prague to Montreal. Just how contagious is the form of tuberculosis that he has?
GUPTA: Well, you know, the realities is, as you've been hearing a lot about, two rows front, two rows back. This certain number of people. A lot of that is just based on modeling. There's no absolutes here with regards to who this man may have infected.
We know a couple of things. We know that closed environments tend to be more problematic. That's why prisons, for example, can be a hot spot for tuberculosis. Hospitals themselves can be a hot spot before the days of isolation wards. Airplanes, as well, perhaps. Those are the things that work against people.
The things that may work in his favor are that it turns out he doesn't sound like he was to sick. So he may not have been coughing, for example, and actually putting that bacteria into the air. Also, if he had had what's known as a sputum test, which is an important. They actually cough some sputum on to a slide, looking to see if the bacteria is actually there. If it's not actually being actively coughed out at that point, it makes his less contagious, as well.
So I think that's based on everything that we're hearing. It sounds like the likelihood of infection to anybody probably is pretty low unless it was a very close contact.
John.
ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta outside of Grady Memorial Hospital with the latest on this Tuberculosis case.
Thanks, Sanjay. We'll get back to you a little bit later on this morning. And next hour we'll be talking with the director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Jule Gerberding.
CHETRY: We turn now to the hunt for little Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old snatched from her room while vacationing with her family in Portugal. Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, are now launching the European leg of their "Keep Hope Alive," a world tour today with a visit to Pope Benedict. The attended a general audience today and hoped to give the pope a picture of Madeleine and ask him to pray for her safe return.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRY MCCANN, MADELEINE'S FATHER: Very mixed emotions about being here and, of course, why we're here. And on normal circumstances, it would be one of the most exciting things we could do in our own lifetime. But we're very much on our minds is the fact that we're here without Madeleine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Madeleine has been missing for almost four weeks when she was snatched from her hotel bed while her parents ate dinner about 500 yards away. Portuguese police are investigating now computer links to the key suspect in this case.
ROBERTS: This morning, President Bush has another loyal ally that he wants to run the World Bank. He is Robert Zoellick. A Goldman Sachs vice chairman, former deputy secretary of state. He became best known as the Bush administration as the U.S. trade representative. The World Bank will have to vote on Zoellick before the current president, Paul Wolfowitz, resigns on June the 30th. President Bush is expected to formally announce Zoellick's nomination in the Rose Garden this morning at 11:05 Eastern. And, of course, we'll carry that announcement live for you right here on CNN.
CHETRY: A suspected Taliban compound targeted in eastern Afghanistan. Coalition troops and Afghan forces killing six Taliban fighters after they opened fire. There are also some conflicting reports, though, this morning about that raid. Locals are saying that civilians are among the dead. Forces conducting a number of raids in the eastern broader provinces recently to try to ward off militant attacks.
And there were some new threats from the man known as the American al Qaeda. In a seven-minute video, Adam Gadahn is threatening attacks worse than the September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM GADAHN: You're losing on all fronts and losing big time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Gadahn was born in California and now believed to be in Pakistan. The first American to be -- in 50 years to be charged with treason. Officials are checking to see if this tape is real.
ROBERTS: A security handover in Iraq today. Iraqi police and soldiers taking over responsibility for three provinces in the northern Kurdish region. This after the U.S. military says Iraqi forces captured the suspected leader of a kidnapping and assassination cell. And in another raid, Iraqi police nabbed more than a dozen people, three from their most wanted list.
And Senator Joe Lieberman is now in Baghdad. His visit was unannounced. Lieberman backs the U.S. war in Iraq. We'll get more for you on Senator Lieberman's trip there just a little bit later on, on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Stepping up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says it would be a very big mistake if negotiators dropped their condition that Iran freeze nuclear work before talks start on any package of incentives. She's in Europe for meetings that will include the European nations who are leading the stalled democracy.
ROBERTS: Israel is stepping up its campaign of air strikes on Palestinian militants. Two members of the Hamas military wing were killed this morning. The Israeli military says it is trying to stop Hamas from firing Kasam rockets out of Gaza into Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week.
CHETRY: Huge, new protests in Venezuela this morning as Hugo Chavez targets the country's only remaining independent television station. Here's some video now. Thousands of people demand to go keep Globovision on the air. Chavez is considering shutting it down, saying that it's trying to incite violence against him. Earlier this week, the government pulled the plug on RCT, which is another opposition channel. The U.S. State Department calls the crackdown an effort to limit freedom of expression.
Scrambling to safety with literally seconds to spare. Firefighters battling a massive house fire in Minneapolis were caught on a second floor when flames surrounded them. And there you see what they did, diving head first out of a window. Their counterparts down there ready to put that ladder up, sliding down to safety. They say they're trained to do the head first ladder dive in this kind of worst case scenario. And there you can clearly see that firefighter did it perfectly. No one was hurt. Unbelievably when you see the flames, no one hurt. The home, though, a total loss.
ROBERTS: They were in a desperate scramble to get out of that house.
Those wayward whales in California could be over the hump, in a manner of speaking. Delta and Dawn nearly home free, making a major push toward the Golden Gate Bridge overnight. They are now just a couple of miles away from the Pacific Ocean. The return to the salty ocean water will wash out cuts that both of the whales have on their backs and hopefully help keep them alive. It's been two weeks since the whales wandered some 90 miles up the Sacramento River. KR: All right. We'll keep watching on how they're doing today.
Some "Quick Hits" for you today as well.
A shooting at a Wendy's in Miami over packets of chili sauce? Apparently the problem started when a hot-headed customer in the drive-thru demanded more than the three packets allowed. Even after getting 10 packets, he demanded more. The manager, and you can see him there, eventually went outside to explain the policy and that's when police say he was shot several times in the arm.
Some scary moments at Disney World yesterday, as well. Five guests and an employee were hurt after a malfunction on a water ride in the Animal Kingdom. Disney says that one of the ride system sensors caused the ride to stop suddenly. They were hurt when the platform they used to get off the ride slipped.
Coming up, soldiers that can speak Arabic are in high demand these days, but what happens when one of them turns out to be gay? We have his story coming up.
Plus, hail and heavy rain trapping drivers, pelting pedestrians. Is that storm front headed your way? We'll have much more on that coming up when Chad Myers gives us the forecast.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Some "Quick Hits" for you now.
And first in New Orleans, where Mayor Ray Nagin is going to give his State of the City Address tonight. It will be the first since Hurricane Katrina hit nearly two years ago. Hurricane season, by the way, begins on Friday.
The Coast Guard says they are now better prepared to face a disaster like Katrina. Admiral Thad Allen says there is now a special Coast Guard unit to respond to disasters. He'll give details at a news conference later on this morning.
And a spring storm dumped heavy rain and hail on the Denver area. Drivers trapped in flooded intersections. Lightning strikes damaged at least two homes there.
All up and down that front range there yesterday, there were all these storms that were just blooming. Chad Myers is in the Weather Center at CNN's weather headquarters in Atlanta.
And what's it looking like today, Chad?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: You know, some are questioning the priorities of the military today after some news when it comes to soldiers being targeted under the don't ask, don't tell policy. In fact, we talked yesterday on "Paula Zahn Now"'s shows about whether or not it's a priority, don't ask, don't tell. Could it be more important than fighting the war on terror when it comes to the firing, the releasing of the many linguists who provide a vital, vital link to thwarting terror. Navy Petty Officer Stephen Benjamin is fluent in Arabic. He used to translate documents and intercepted conversations. That was until his commanders found out he was gay. I spoke with him exclusively last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN BENJAMIN, DISCHARGED FOR BEING GAY: I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been with the policy. And, you know, a lot of people are having personal conversations and everyone knew I was gay. It was never a big issue. So I never really thought that people would have gone back, looked at the logs and, you know, kicked me out for it.
CHETRY: And so is that the case, I mean, in the -- we talk about this don't ask, don't tell policy. It's not necessarily followed. You're saying it was pretty much an open secret, your sexuality?
BENJAMIN: Don't ask, don't tell is actually a misnomer for what the law says. The law actually says you can't be gay and serve in the military.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: You know what's interesting, 58 Arab linguists have been fired, Arab speaking linguists have been fired under don't ask, don't tell since it was instituted back in 1994. Benjamin, by the way, was stationed at Fort Gordon in Georgia.
Some "Quick Hits" now.
President Bush will go to Congress today to ask for $30 billion to battle the AIDS crisis. The money will double the U.S.'s current commitment and extend the AIDS fighting effort for at least five years after the president leaves office.
And Vice President Cheney does not want the public to know who's visiting him. The vice president's office said the Naval Observatory in Washington says the records of visitors should be kept private under the Presidential Records Act. An activist group wants to know about conservative, religious leaders visiting the vice president.
And if you want some Michael Jackson stuff, for the right price, it can be yours, including that jacket he wore in the "Beat It" videos, among other things. The Jackson family memorabilia, all of it being auctioned off in Las Vegas. We'll have the whole story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: A live picture now. You're looking at Vatican City, St. Peter's Square. Pope Benedict just finishing up giving a speech this morning, his weekly general audience, people come to hear him and to pray with him.
And among those who are there today, the parents of missing Madeleine McCann. They're going to be meeting with the pope in a new effort to rise worldwide awareness of the abduction of their four- year-old daughter. The couple, devote Catholics, are hoping to meet with him. They apparently sat in the front row of his weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in Rome this morning.
They also want to give a picture of Madeleine to the pontiff and ask him to pray for her. He expressed interest in meeting them after learning it was their Catholic faith that has so far helped get them through this extremely difficult time for the family, the loss of a child and not knowing what happened to their four-year-old, Madeleine. We'll keep you updated on whether or not they get a chance to meet with the pontiff a little bit later today.
John.
ROBERTS: From Michael Jackson's iconic military jacket, to a May West outfit that was once worn by Janet Jackson, more than 1,000 pieces of Jackson family memorabilia will be available for bidders worldwide starting today. AMERICAN MORNING's Lola Ogunnaike is here to tell us how this collection all came together.
This is being auctioned in Las Vegas. It's the Guernsey's Auction House that's got it. How did they get a hold of all of this?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it fell into the hands of a businessman in 2002 after a failed business deal. They sold it to an organization called Universal Express, which is a luggage transport company in Florida. Anyway, they sold it to -- well, they're selling it. They bought it for $5 million, excuse me. Now it's on the auction block and it's the most amazing iconic Jackson memorabilia.
ROBERTS: We mentioned the military jacket, the May West outfit. What else will people be able to bid on?
OGUNNAIKE: The thriller jacket. The red and black one. You know, thriller, remember? Michael Jackson's Motown identity card.
ROBERTS: You sing it much better than I do.
OGUNNAIKE: I do, actually, but we'll do the backup dancing later.
Michael Jackson's Motown identity card. That was when he was still black. Numerous Michael Jackson awards. A Marlin Brando telegrams encouraging him not to fall in the orchestra pit during the performance. Really cute.
And it's not all his stuff, which is so great. Tito fans will be so happy. I know you're a big one. They have the original handwritten ABC lyrics. You remember, a, b, c.
ROBERTS: Yes. OGUNNAIKE: OK. And also the May West costume, as you mentioned before. And my, favorite, Latoya Jackson's library card from the 1960s.
ROBERTS: Oh, isn't that cute.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes.
ROBERTS: So when will the bidding start? How will people be able to bid on it? Is it like an online type of auction as well?
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, there's an actual live auction, which is in Vegas, as you mentioned before. But you can also bid on eBay, which is great. So you can put on your "Thriller" album and stay in your home and bid on anything you want.
ROBERTS: There are more than 1,000 things to bid on.
OGUNNAIKE: A lot. Letters, sequins, boots, some really tacky outfits from the 80s, but some really iconic memorabilia and I think people will be happy.
ROBERTS: We'll keep an eye on it, see what goes up on the blocks, see what actually goes and how much it goes for.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes.
ROBERTS: Lola Ogunnaike, thank you very much.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: And welcome, by the way, to the AMERICAN MORNING family.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you. Very happy to be here.
ROBERTS: Dysfunctional as it may be. Good to have you here.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, though we love them all.
Thanks so much.
Twenty-three past the hour now. Can you get me the red jacket for Christmas?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The girl who had the locker next to me in high school had that red jacket in high school and I . . .
CHETRY: How many zippers can you possibly need on a jacket?
VELSHI: Yes, you know, these days it's necessary. iPods and all that kind of stuff.
CHETRY: That's true. The Chinese market's taking a plunge. VELSHI: Yes, 6.5 percent lower in Shanghai today. And what we're waiting to see is when China sneezes, do we all catch a cold? Right now European markets are down more than a percent.
Here's the story. If you thought our markets were hot here, think about this, the Dow is up about 8.5 percent for the year. The S&P 500 up about 6 percent. The Chinese market up 60 percent. So the government took some steps to try and curtail this by putting a tax on stock trading.
Now, over the last two weeks, Chinese citizens have opened an average of 300,000 stock trading accounts per day. Stock trading is out of control in China, so they're adjusting this tax and they're thinking that that is going to put the brakes on this overheated market in China.
So right now, as I say, European markets are trading lower. Futures are indicating that U.S. markets will trade lower, as well. The S&P 500, which is less than 10 points from its all-time high, probably isn't going to make it today.
We also had some news on home prices. For the first three months of this year, compared to the first quarter of last year, home prices are actually down. And over that three month period, that's the first time that's happened since 1991.
But you think that's bad news. Between low home prices and high gas prices, you think that would affect people. It's not actually affecting the U.S. consumer too much according to a consumer confidence survey we saw yesterday. Those gas prices and home prices are actually being offset by these gains in the stock market.
The excitement people have about the stock market and the fact that unemployment remains so low. It's making people feel good about their future. So they're not all that worried about the extra money they're putting into their gas tank or what they may or may not get from their house. They're very excited about the business (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: So this is from checking the 401(k) and feeling that there is . . .
VELSHI: Yes, feeling that they're OK. If they're in debt right now or there's some problem, they'll have a job and their money will continue to grow.
CHETRY: All right.
VELSHI: Good news.
CHETRY: Good news. You're right. You're finding me the bright spot.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks. We'll check in with you a little bit later. We're going to head over to John now.
ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes now after the hour and some more "Quick Hits" for you now.
Our top story on cnn.com this story morning. A 25-year-old woman and her three young daughters were found dead hanging in a closet in their home in Hudson Oaks, Texas. Amazingly, another child, an eight- month-old survived the hanging. Police believe it was a murder- suicide because the doors were locked from the inside.
Also on the most popular list this morning, health officials looking for fellow passengers of an infected man who took two overseas flights. He was infected with a rare antibiotic resistant strain of tuberculosis. Coming up, we'll talk to the reporter who has talked to the patient about why he took those flights against doctor's orders.
Plus, Greg Hunter has made it to the beach. Wrapping up his gag gauge challenge.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, we are trying to answer the question, in these high gas prices, what's cheaper, to fly or drive? And that's what we're doing when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: International alert. Travelers urged to be tested for tuberculosis after an American infected with the disease boarded two international flights. He's speaking out about why he made a run for it on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. It is Wednesday, May 30th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts. Good morning to you and good morning to you.
CHETRY: You know, such a strange story and we're going to get more details in just a moment from the "Atlanta Journal- Constitutional" reporter who spoke with this man. Just a bizarre turn of events.
ROBERTS: And some other stories on our radar this morning as well. We've got our gas gauge challenge wrapping up today. Greg Hunter's trip from the Midwest to Myrtle Beach now complete. We're going to add up the expenses and see if it was cheaper for him to drive or to fly. Remember yesterday we told you that a round-trip flight for parents and a couple of kids would be $735. He was sort of two-thirds of the way there in terms of his expenses, gasoline, motels, meals. So we'll see how close he gets at the end of his trip.
CHETRY: Bumper car rides.
ROBERTS: Bumper car rides. Always important.
CHETRY: You know, those excursions you take on a road trip.
So we're going to check in with him as well.
Also, the robber who wanted more than money. He wanted to date one of the victims. You know, sometimes, the silliness of the crooks are just mind-boggling, and we're going to show you and tell you a little bit more about exactly what he did and why they're behind bars today.
But we begin this morning with a Georgia man sparking an international health alert. He's infected with a very dangerous form of tuberculosis, the worst kind, in fact, drug-resistant and highly dangerous, even deadly. Now a government-ordered quarantine for the first time in more than 40 years in Georgia.
The man raising some troubling red flags about the government's response. All of it outlined in an article in today's "Atlanta Journal-Constitution".
And Alison Young is the reporter who wrote that article. She joins us on the phone this morning.
Allison, good to talk to you. Thanks for being with us.
ALISON YOUNG, "ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": Sure. Good morning.
CHETRY: So this is the Fulton County man who learned that he had a highly difficult and possibly deadly form of tuberculosis. We find out that he ended up leaving the country for a wedding, regardless -- even though he did have this form of tuberculosis.
What are you learning about what he was told and why he did it?
YOUNG: Well, there is conflicting information about what he was told about the extent of his disease and whether he was allowed to travel or not. He says that the government officials, particularly those in the county health department, knew he had at least a form of drug-resistant tuberculosis before he boarded flights and headed for his wedding and his honeymoon over in Europe.
However, CDC officials and the Fulton County Health Department say that the final diagnosis of Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis did not come through until after he had already left the country.
CHETRY: Right. And the CDC also saying that normally when someone has tuberculosis we don't have to quarantine them because there is this covenant of trust, as they call it, something they're claiming he violated because he chose to leave and go about traveling even though this was a contagious illness.
What does he say in response to that?
YOUNG: Well, he says that he has done everything other than disobeying a CDC order to stay put in Italy when contacted over there while on his honeymoon. He says that he has done everything that government officials have said he should do. From the moment he was diagnosed, he has attended treatment under the supervision of Fulton County health authorities. When they determined that his treatment was not responsive to the drugs, he stopped treatment, as they told him to do. He says he had extensive conversations saying...
CHETRY: Right.
YOUNG: ... "I'm going on my wedding and my honeymoon."
CHETRY: You know, and this is -- this is where your story gets quite bizarre when you read it. He ended up going there. He's in Italy, he's in Rome on his honeymoon, getting ready to head to Florence, when the CDC contacts him overseas in Italy saying, stay put.
Now they're asking him that they would like him to check himself voluntarily into an Italian hospital and be quarantined there, when he can leave an unknown situation. And so he says, heck no. He said -- his quote is -- he told you, "You're nuts. I'm not going to do that." And that's when I guess this international escape began.
YOUNG: Yes. I mean, he basically was very concerned.
He has specialized treatment lined up at a hospital in Denver to do some very cutting-edge treatment on him. And his concern was, if he was confined in a hospital in Italy that, A, he wouldn't receive that treatment, and B, he might receive treatment that would make any hope of his receiving a cure not happen.
CHETRY: The thing that does seem curious, though, is he knew he was undergoing this extremely difficult treatment, possibly 18 months, possibly involving a surgery because this form of TB was so drug- resistant, yet he thought it was OK to fly, you know, transatlantically.
YOUNG: What he says is that health officials had not told him to take any precautions around his family, his close friends, a child that he was -- that all of them had tested negative. He emphasizes that he is what's called smear negative.
CHETRY: Right. Right. So it doesn't show up in his saliva.
YOUNG: Exactly. And even CDC has acknowledged in his press conference that he is at low risk of transmission, although that does not mean zero risk of transmission.
CHETRY: Alison Young with the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution".
A great article and really a fascinating case. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Let's go down to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's live outside of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where the man is being held. He's got an update on his condition.
And Sanjay, I understand there's an armed guard posted outside this fellow's door? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is. And this particular hospital where I work, as well, that's not a very unusual sight for this particular reason -- I'm not sure if they think he may try and take off or what, but, yes, there's an armed guard.
There's an entire ward, John, a respiratory isolation ward. They don't call it a quarantine ward, but an isolation ward, where they have negative air pressure rooms, so air is actually being sucked into the room, as opposed to blowing it out of the room.
Everyone wears masks up there, and the armed guard is up there, as well. So that's what's happening behind at the 10th floor of this particular hospital. Again, something that we see here quite a bit.
ROBERTS: And how long do you think he'll be there, Sanjay?
GUPTA: That's a great question, John. When it comes to Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, I mean, this wasn't even a term that I really heard of when I was in medical school. It's really come about over the last decade or so.
And it basically means exactly what you might think. I mean, there's not a lot of good options to try and treat someone like this.
There's several different classes of drugs, but most of them don't seem to work for him. And as you get into the more toxic drugs, they're less effective and harder, if you will, on the body. So, it's a little bit hard to say.
Sometimes an operation might be an option. So, for example, if there's a combined area of tuberculosis in his lungs, the doctors may say, you know what? The antibiotics are never going to work. Let's go in there and try and actually remove this and then treat with antibiotics to kill whatever few cells may be left over.
It's hard to say, but it could be up to two years that someone needs treatment. It doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be in isolation for that long, but it could be a very long process for someone like him.
ROBERTS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with the latest outside of Grady Memorial Hospital.
Sanjay, thanks.
In our next hour, we're going to be talking with Dr. Julie Gerberding, who is the head of the Centers for Disease Control.
Those wayward whales in California are finally homeward bound. Delta and Dawn are just a couple of miles away from the Pacific Ocean. Rescuers hope to keep them swimming straight and get them under the Golden Gate Bridge this morning. What a triumph that would be. It's been two weeks since the whales wandered some 90 miles up the Sacramento River. CHETRY: And we turn now to the hunt for little Madeleine McCann. The 4-year-old snatched from her room while vacationing with her family in Portugal.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, are launching the European leg of their Keep Hope Alive world tour, and they just moments ago had a chance to speak -- there you see it -- with Pope Benedict. They are devout Catholics and they credit their faith with helping them through the darkest period a parent could ever go through of losing a child, not having any idea where she is.
They handed a picture of Madeleine to the pope and asked him to please pray for her safe return. And there you see him offering some words of comfort, as well as holding and clutching the hands of her tormented parents. And there he is, touching the photo of little Madeleine McCann.
She's been missing, by the way, for almost four weeks, snatched from her bed, her hotel room, while her parents ate dinner about 50 yards away. Portuguese police have been investigating now some computer links to a key suspect in the case.
Some "Quick Hits" now.
A serial cab robber hitting the Big Apple, and the NYPD asking for your help to find him. Police say the suspect struck again last night. The driver says he got in front, pulled a gun. It's the eighth taxicab robbery in just two weeks. It happened on the same day as a big push to get the sketches out of this suspect.
A Michigan truck driver facing sentencing now after pleading guilty to reckless homicide. He caused a crash that killed five people last year. The case gained national attention when two of the victims' identities were accidentally switched. An injured young woman was mistaken for a classmate killed in the crash.
Coming up, the great gas challenge comes to an end. We're tallying up the travel receipts and we're checking whether or not Greg Hunter can answer this question for us: Is it cheaper to fly than to take the family road trip this summer?
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
The conclusion now to Greg Hunter's gas gauge challenge, as he's calling it. He's been making his way from Columbus, Ohio, through Greensboro, North Carolina, about 400 miles, to his final destination, which was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
All told, about a 600-mile trip. So now it's time to find out how much all of it costs, and with the high price of gas, would flying have actually been cheaper? Greg's live in Myrtle Beach for us this morning.
Hi, Greg.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. How you doing?
Well, this is what people come for, the beach. They come down here. I'll give you a quick look at what's going on.
The sun is coming up over here. Don't you love this? It's beautiful, right?
So, is it cheaper to fly or is it cheaper to drive in these days of high gas prices? Well, that's what we hit the road to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER (voice over): It was anything but a free ride on this road trip. We felt the pinch of those steep gas prices, starting with $3.37 per gallon in Columbus, Ohio; $2.95 in Wytheville, Virginia; $3.09 in Greensboro, North Carolina; and $2.99 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Before setting out, we tried to cut costs, stocking up on drinks and other supplies, spending more than $69 on day one. Day two, we ate drive through for lunch and a cafeteria dinner, but our gas cost almost as much as our food. With hotel and other expenses, the day's total was more than $410.
Some simple pleasures weren't costly at all, like roadside strawberries, and some were free, like these majestic views of West Virginia, and unusual monuments in North Carolina, a state famous for its furniture industry. And even though yours truly cooked dinner for the group, day three expenses, with $61 in gas, pushed that day's tab to $156.19.
(on camera): Just a relaxing break from driving.
(voice over): All told, our go-cart, at $6.50 a pop, was the cheapest ride we had.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: OK. So what is it? Is it cheaper to drive, or is it cheaper to fly in these high fuel prices? I asked my wife this last night, and she got it right, but she missed the amount.
It costs just about $635 a day to come down here from Columbus, Ohio. Driving, double that, $1,270.78. Total cost to fly -- that includes flight, parking and a rental van -- because that's what we were driving -- $1,369.42.
Can you believe that? About $100 difference. It's cheaper to drive than it is to fly. But there's good sides and there's bad sides to both -- Kiran. CHETRY: Right. I guess it also depends on what you want to get out of it. Do you want to enjoy it along the way, stop and smell the roses and the bumper car exhaust, like you did, or do you want to just get there?
HUNTER: That's right. Well, yes.
You know, at the airport, you can have delays but you get here faster. When you drive, you get the big chair, the big chair, the strawberries on the road. It just depends on what you do.
If getting there is half the fun, then drive. If getting there is your main goal, fly.
Back to you.
CHETRY: There you go. And the ribs looked wonderful. You can prepare them for us any time here on AMERICAN MORNING, as well.
By the way, I love it. It's all on AMERICAN MORNING'S expense account, anyway, so he's flying back. Getting the crew and flying back on the plane.
ROBERTS: Forty-six minutes now after the hour. It looks like he had an interesting road trip.
Chad Myers is in the weather center down in Atlanta with some more extreme weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Some "Quick Hits" for you now.
It's been 100 days of gay marriage in New Jersey. Eight hundred and fifty-two same-sex couples applied to form civil unions since the law designed to give them the legal benefits of marriage went into effect.
And flight attendants at Northwestern Airlines have narrowly agreed to take a pay cut. The decision will stave off a possible strike as the airline emerges from bankruptcy.
Still to come, the health alert that's spanning two continents. Hundreds of airline passengers potentially exposed to drug-resistant tuberculosis. Did the U.S. government drop the ball by letting a sick man leave the country in the first place?
We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: All right. Some "Quick Hits" now.
Primary push. You can add Alaska and Georgia to the list of states that will be actually moving up their primary dates. We talked a lot about this. They're going to be holding their presidential primaries on February 5th. That makes 15 states that already are doing it, and there are a few other states that are considering it at this point.
Also coming up, we're going to tell you about candidate Mitt Romney. He says that if he is elected as president, he will donate the $400,000 salary to charity.
Thanks very much.
We're going to head -- he actually makes about $250 million. Scripts are always helpful.
So Romney probably doesn't need the extra money, John. He can afford to be generous with the $400,000 if he is president.
ROBERTS: Well, we've got some "Quick Hits" for you now on the medical front.
Could diet help to lower your blood pressure? A new study out of Texas Southwestern Medical Center finds that diets that are high in carbohydrates may raise blood pressure more than diets that are high in monounsaturated fats. Now, apparently the difference isn't great enough that it's going to provoke new recommendations for people with high blood pressure as to what they eat, but it doesn't mean that it's not going to prompt a new book, a new diet book.
So maybe watch for one of those coming out on your shelves quite soon.
And people who might think that smoking tobacco through a hookah or a water pipe is safer than smoking it in a pipe or in cigarettes, well apparently that's not true at all. The World Health Organization says smoking from a water pipe may be just as dangerous as any other kind of smoking, but they also add that more research is needed.
So the next time you're at a Lebanese restaurant and they pass around the hookah, pass it up.
6:52 -- AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
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CHETRY: And some "Quick Hits" now.
Planet hunters say we are not alone. Researchers telling a meeting of the American Astronomical Society they've spotted 28 new planets outside of our solar systems in the past year alone, and that there might be billions of habitable planets in the universe.
Also, a special expedition just coming back down form Mt. Everest, with much more than just bragging rights. A Japanese mountaineer and his team bringing down 1,100 pounds of garbage. It's his latest campaign to keep the world's highest mountain clean. He says though that when he started this campaign in 2000, people were far more terrible about leaving their garbage up there. He says that this time it was much cleaner because people are aware of the impact of what happens when they leave garbage behind on the mountain.
ROBERTS: Interesting program.
Fifty-six minutes after the hour now. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business".
First of all, it was the mega bookstores putting the small bookstores out of business.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
ROBERTS: Now the mega bookstores are having trouble.
VELSHI: That's right. The bookstore The bookstore isn't the destination that it once was. And this is what Borders and Barnes & Noble are finding.
Barnes & Noble is the largest bookseller, Borders is the second largest. Borders lost -- it just reported its quarter loss -- more than double. Book sales are flat, DVD sales are flat.
Music -- you know, they turned to DVDs and music. Music sales are in decline, just as they are everywhere.
And the issue here is that books are expensive and people are buying books from where they can get their books for the least amount of money. Borders is partnered with Amazon, but Wal-Mart and Costco and places like that have really commoditized books. So, the average consumer goes to buy books where they get the best deal, and there isn't the sense of loyalty to a bookstore.
Now, ironically, those little small mom and pop stores that did survive, those little neighborhood bookstores, are still the kind of place where people go for their specific needs and they go to get sort of the flavor of the bookstore and the person who knows what they want. Those stores have tried to be something for everybody.
The big, mega bookstores ended up carrying too much inventory. That inventory is expensive. They're competing with the Internet, which doesn't need to carry that inventory, and they're competing with the Wal-Marts and Costcos, who, you know, are able to sell more books for less money.
So, that looks like the future of the book industry.
Now, earlier I was telling you about the housing industry. We've got the numbers that show that this year, we've actually had a drop in house prices over last year, so I'm going to come and talk about that the next time I'm up in about a half an hour.
ROBERTS: Thank you.
CHETRY: It could be good for some people if you're looking to buy.
VELSHI: Yes, absolutely.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: OK.
CHETRY: Well, for most robbers, it's take the money and run. But for one guy, he actually stuck around in hopes of stealing a woman's heart.
Police are now looking for two men who robbed a U-Haul store in Milwaukee over the weekend. There is the surveillance video. While one of them forced an employee to open the cash register, the other hit on a second employee, asking if he could get her phone number.
Needless to say, she turned him down.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
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