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ISIS At The Gates Of Kobani; Mormon Hub Faces Growing Addiction Issue; Fire Marshal Updates Dallas Home Cleanup
Aired October 03, 2014 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: We reported this to you last hour. Islamic State terrorists are knocking at the door of the Syrian city, Kobani, at Syria's border with Turkey.
These are ISIS fighters trying to battle their way inside Kobani, the city's out gunned defenders are putting up ferocious resistance. Let's take a look at that.
CNN's Phil Black reported last hour those Kurdish fighters you see are under nearly constant shelling from ISIS and they expect ISIS to enter that city very soon. Colonel Rick Francona is with me now. He is a CNN military analyst and former U.S. military attache in Syria.
Rick, so let's talk about this. First of all, what is your take on why ISIS is fighting so hard for this border city, Kobani?
LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: They want to control the whole border and they control a large portion of it. But this is a major border crossing and they want to shut that off because this is one way that supplies come into the Kurds.
It's also how they want to control it so they can get their people in and out as well. Control of the territory. They're not concerned about the people. As refugees were going, there was no effort to stop them. They want the land. They don't care about the people.
KAYE: All right, so that's Syria. Let me ask you about Iraq as well and the threat there specifically Baghdad because ISIS controls Fallujah and much of the Anbar Province. We're also hearing suggestions that Baghdad could be in danger. Do you think ISIS does have the capability to take that?
FRANCONA: I don't think they have the capability to take the city itself. Baghdad is mostly Shia and it's being protected now by very good units of the Iraqi army, the ones that are really good and also the Shia militias, they are Iranian trained and supported.
So between the two of those, I think they could defend the city. But we still see the ISIS people making inroads in the south and the west. It looks like they are almost trying to cut off the city.
As they get down into that area, they're going to run into more and more of the Shia militias and I think they're going to hit a wall. I don't think they'll be able to go much further. I think they have gone about as far south and west as they're going to go.
KAYE: The other concern is the scenario what if ISIS skirts Baghdad and maybe heads south to the oil fields.
FRANCONA: Well, I don't think they can reach the oil fields because that's far south yet and it's all in that Shia area and they will defend that with much more vigor than they try to defend Mosul and that Sunni area up to the north.
What I am worried about is Baghdad Airport. As you can see here, Baghdad Airport is not that far off of the line of attack. They are in Fallujah. They've been coming down that road. Baghdad Airport is critical to our evacuation plan if we need to get people out of there, contractors, embassy personnel, military personnel.
If they control the airport, then that forces us into an overland march down to Kuwait. This is something that is very critical to our planning as well as ISIS.
KAYE: More airstrikes do you think?
FRANCONA: They'll use airstrikes along there. In fact, the initial airstrikes that were conducted by the U.S. were in this area to the south of the airport trying to get ISIS to stop moving and to force them back. They have stopped them from moving, but they have not yet been able to get them out of there. Even with the Iraqi army with U.S. air support can't get these guys out of there.
KAYE: All right, Rick Francona, thank you. Nice to see you.
New information on how the U.S. is handling Ebola and we're also going to answer your questions about Ebola. Our Sanjay Gupta will be joining us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. Right now, there is no outbreak of Ebola in America. That's the word from the Dallas County health director. While Zacchary Thompson is assuring people that the situation is, quote,
"under control," that is not keeping a lot of you from wondering if the virus could spread.
So let me bring in CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He is here to answer some of the questions that you have been tweeting us.
So Sanjay, here we go. Let's begin with this one. Can Ebola survive on surfaces such as door handles and glass windows if somebody sneezes, can I contract Ebola that way?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A couple questions there. So it can live outside of the body, this Ebola virus. Maybe even up to a couple days? It's still unlikely that if someone touches a surface with Ebola virus is and then touches their nose, eyes or mouth, they could theoretically get the infection that way but it's very unlikely.
We haven't seen that actually happen. So we don't think that's common. As far as sneezing goes, it's one of these things if somebody were to sneeze, it's not so much that it's putting the virus into an airborne state, but if they were to sneeze onto somebody else and the person was infected, that could potentially cause an infection.
So sneezing in close proximity more from bodily fluids that have the virus in it could possibly cause an infection and it can live outside the body, but that's less likely as a source of an infection.
KAYE: Here's an interesting one. This question, how long is the Ebola virus transmittable in sweat on an exercise machine at the gym? Obviously if you are feeling sick from Ebola, you're not going to the gym. Maybe it's before you start feeling sick, right?
GUPTA: Well, so important distinction. You are absolutely right. If you are feeling crummy from Ebola, you are probably not up to going to the gym and if you're not sick, you probably don't have the virus in your bodily fluids if that makes sense.
It's not until you get sick does the virus come into the bodily fluids and at that point is where you can become contagious. At that point it can spread. A healthy person is not going to spread the virus. People have so sit back and ponder that one.
It's important to know if you're not sick, you're not spreading the virus. If the question is how long can Ebola in sweat live on some gym equipment or anything else for that matter, it can live even up to a couple of days outside of the body. That can happen.
If it's exposed to heat. If it's exposed to light. If it's cleaned. That should deactivate the virus. If the real question is if I then touch that surface and then touch my eyes, nose or mouth, will I get infected? Theoretically possible but very, very unlikely.
KAYE: All right, one more for you. Is there any hope of developing a preventive medicine for Ebola?
GUPTA: Yes. I think we're talking about vaccine in terms of what preventive medicine might be. A trial is under way right now. A trial started about a month ago now and they think by the end of this year they will have the first phase of the trial done.
If it does look safe, what will likely happen is they'll have a lot more people sort of in the phase two part of the trial. It's still going to be experimental, but that could be a vaccine that could be made more widely available within the next several months then.
Maybe not in time for this outbreak. Hopefully this will be over in West Africa. It could be more widely available if this were to happen again.
KAYE: So many questions. Glad we have you here to answer them. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
GUPTA: Anytime, Randi, you got it.
KAYE: Coming up, CNN's Lisa Ling goes inside one community's struggle with prescription pill addiction, but she's not at a rehab clinic or skidrow. Lisa has gone to Utah and talked with members of the Mormon faith. She joins me live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: No smoking, no alcohol, no coffee, not even tea. Mormons believe they should stay away from all it. But behind their wholesome way of life is an addiction that is tearing apart many in their faith.
This Sunday in her new CNN series, "THIS IS LIFE," Lisa Ling gets unprecedented access to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and how it's dealing with the prescription pill crisis in its community.
In this clip, Lisa speaks with an addict who describes what it's like to be on OxyContin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like you feel like superwoman. I don't know. It's hard to explain.
LISA LING, CNN HOST, "THIS IS LIFE": Can I ask what you're on right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heroin and meth. It's just once I wake up, I start getting high.
LING: And what happens if you don't? What happens to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll get sick. Hot and cold sweats. Muscles ache. Anxiety really bad. So I make sure I always have it.
LING: How are you supporting your habit?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By selling pills, drugs. I mean, people call me for it and I just know where to get it.
LING: Sara tells me she was diagnosed with ADD as a child and gets a monthly prescription for Adderall, but she gets more illegal drugs by selling her legal ones.
So you can make 900 bucks on that? What kind of influence did the Mormon Church have on your life when you were younger?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my dad is Catholic and my mom has never drank, smoked, done drugs. You know, she just doesn't relate to me at all. We don't relate with each other.
LING: Why do you think addiction is so rampant among Mormons here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're depressed or hiding some type of issue in their life. They just don't want to be judged by their church. (END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Lisa Ling is with me now. That was tough to watch. The young woman we saw there didn't look so well. She couldn't sit still. She was itching herself. How is that like to talk to her?
LING: It was really difficult. You know, when you work on a story like this and someone really opens their world up to you and gives you such incredible access to their lives, it's hard not to be concerned about them.
It's hard not to want to try and help her. And in this young woman's case, Sara, we tried to put her into contact with some of the people that we met. We were invited by the LDS Church into one of their 12- step meetings. It was pretty rare access that we got.
I tried to put Sara in touch with some of the people who were in that meeting and she didn't show up. And you've covered stories about people who are addicted to drugs. The idea of them being reliable is sort of --
KAYE: Right, non-existent.
LING: It's something you just can't ever expect.
KAYE: Did you find, though, that Mormons do have a higher rate of addiction than other faiths?
LING: Well, it's interesting, because of their adherence to this health law called the word of wisdom, they've actually been successful at maintaining very low rates of addiction to illicit drugs and crime, for that matter.
But when it comes to prescription pills, that's where the gray area sort of comes in. Because the pills are prescribed by a physician, there is the perception that they're OK. But Mormons are no less vulnerable to addiction to prescription pills than anyone else.
KAYE: And what else will we see -- that is so fascinating. I'm curious what else you have for us in Sunday night's episode.
LING: Well, we spend time with a housewife who talks about getting addicted herself and feeling so much pressure -- not so much by the church but self-imposed pressure that she kept it under the rug for a very long time and ended up spending tens of thousands of dollars on treatment for herself and her daughter who also became addicted.
We also spend time with a man named Ryan who just a couple of months ago lost his son to an overdose of pills. It is a really incredible, powerful, heart-wrenching show. But at the same time, the people within the LDS Church who opened up to us did so in such an incredible way. For that, I will be truly grateful.
KAYE: Certainly a very rare access. So we look forward to that. Lisa, thanks so much. A reminder, her show, "THIS IS LIFE with Lisa Ling" airs Sundays, 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Just moments ago, the fire marshal in Dallas spoke about cleaning up the home where Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, stayed for a few days. The hazmat teams went to the apartment complex earlier today. An update on what they removed and the latest from there coming next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Just moments ago, the fire marshal in Dallas spoke about cleaning up the home where Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, stayed for a few days. The hazmat teams went to the apartment complex earlier today as we've been telling you. CNN's Martin Savidge is at the scene and has an update for us -- Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can probably see some of those hazmat trucks over my right shoulder here. They've been on site for a couple of hours. There's also a private contractor at work.
The fire official told us how this is working. For the first time, we've seen people in I guess what you might just casually describe as spacesuits. These are the hazmat suits, those designed to protect people as they go into that apartment.
This is something many in the area thought they would have seen a lot earlier. This is the apartment where Thomas Duncan had been when he had Ebola and where four people are currently quarantined.
They're talking to those people on the telephone and they're housing them in one room of the apartment while cleaning crews go into the other. Two things are going on.
One is they are cleaning and disinfecting and also removing those items that they believe that Thomas Duncan may have infected, things like towels, sheets, even mattresses. Those things are going to be carefully packed up and then will be transported to an undisclosed location.
But only there will they be held temporarily until they iron out the paperwork, which has been a problem, of transporting it to some final destination where presumably it will be disposed of. All of that's going on right now. We're told also those in quarantine will eventually be moved from here as well -- Randi.
KAYE: So an undisclosed location, which will then probably have to be cleaned and sanitized as well, depending on what that is. Martin Savidge, thank you very much. Appreciate the update from there.
KAYE: CNN is proud to announce the top ten CNN heroes of 2014. Each one gets $25,000 and a shot at the top honor. CNN hero of the year. That winner will get an additional $100,000 for their cause. You get to help choose CNN's Hero of the Year. Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper to show you how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": Now that we've announced the top CNN Heroes of 2014, I want to show you how you can choose who should be CNN Hero of the Year and receive $100,000 for their cause.
Take a look. This is the main page of CNNheroes.com where you'll see all the top ten and learn more about each one of them. Here's how to vote for your favorite. Once you've decided who inspires you to most, click down here on vote.
Then a new page comes up showing you all the top ten heroes. Choose the person to vote for. I'll randomly select Ned Norton. His photo shows up under your selection. Then just enter your e-mail address, type in the security code and click on the vote button right down there.
It's even easier to vote on Facebook. Click your selection and vote over here. You can vote once a day until November 16th. Rally your friends by sharing your choice on Facebook or on Twitter. We'll reveal your 2014 hero of the year during "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute," a CNN tradition that promises to inspire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Meet this year's top ten heroes and you can vote once a day every day at CNNheroes.com, all ten will be honored at "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute" hosted by Anderson Cooper and airing on December 7th. But only one will be named CNN Hero of the Year.
I'm Randi Kaye. Thanks so much for watching today. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now. Have a wonderful afternoon, everyone.
