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First Time Ebola Ever Transmitted In U.S.;U.S. Insists Baghdad Safe From ISIS; ISIS Militants Look To Take Kobani

Aired October 12, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN HOST: I'm Deborah Feyerick in for Frederica Whitfield. Against all odds and despite extraordinary precaution, the Ebola virus was spread from an infected patient to a nurse at Presbyterian hospital in Dallas. She is in stable condition, but the transmission may go even further. A person close to the nurse has been placed in pro active isolation.

Here's what we know. Hospital officials say the female nurse was in full protective gear when she helped treat Ebola patients Thomas Eric Duncan who died Wednesday. It is the first confirmed transmission of the deadly disease inside the United States. The CDC is following up with a second test to confirm it is Ebola and investigate how the virus spread to her. Results of that test are expected today.

The White House says President Obama has been kept up-to-date on the situation in Dallas by health and human services secretary Sylvia Burwell.

Meanwhile, Dallas officials are going to pains to reassure the public that the danger has been contained. Mayor Mike Rawlings says the nurse's apartment complex has been sealed. Neighbors alerted in a four-block radius, and hazmat teams have decontaminated the public spaces, including a hospital parking lot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MIKE RAWLINGS, DALLAS: We decontaminated the car that the patient drove in, and secured it so nobody could come in contact with the car. We decontaminated hand railings, everything in the parking lot so everybody can feel comfortable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is covering this troubling development, and she joins us now on the phone.

Elizabeth, absolutely not what anyone was expecting. Was the hospital overly confident initially that they could completely contain this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Deborah, I think that there are probably several groups that were confident that as long as the healthcare worker was wearing full protective equipment, that things would be OK. I think that there might have been sort of unconsciousness function that hey, things went well in Emory, things went well in Nebraska where other patients were treated, you know as long as they are protection, they will be OK. But as we have seen, that didn't happen here.

FEYERICK: So, they're talking about a breach in protocol, but they haven't been exactly when that breach occurred. Did it occur when she was in the room, for example, with the patient to their calling the index patient, Mr. Duncan? Was it outside when she was taking off the protective gear? Did any indication when the breach may have occurred, Elizabeth?

COHEN: No. We don't know when the breach may have occurred. And there is one point that I want to make that I think is very important which is that, just there is this is breach that it is not her fault necessarily. That this is something that institutions are supposed to guide their staff through. They're supposed to have a system where someone is watching you and supervising you and making sure that you're putting it on correctly and making sure even more importantly that you are taking it off correctly because when you are taking it off, you are taking off gear that's been contaminated with infectious material.

So I think it's going to be really important as this gets looked into. If you think of it as a system error and not a personal error.

FEYERICK: Which is interesting, does the CDC at this point believe that they do need to reevaluate the protocols? Perhaps even, for example, wipe everyone down with bleach once they take those suits off of them.

COHEN: You know, I have heard that there is a strong sort of current of folks dealing that they need to rethink these protocols. What I am hearing is some experts saying we need to rethink about where we treat Ebola patients. Do we want them treated at the hospital that they walk into, or do they need to be transferred to a hospital that specializes in this, that is specially trained and hopefully has some experience?

You know, we transferred patients from West Africa to the United States? Why not transfer patients within the United States because as we've seen, it's not so easy to follow these protocols. It's difficult to wear those outfits for a long time. It gets very hot in there. They're very bulky. It's difficult to put them on 100 percent right. It's difficult to take them off 100 percent right.

FEYERICK: It is interesting, the CDC has made it such at most hospitals are in fact equipped to handle some sort of infection disease like Ebola. But is there any sort of guarantee that in fact emergency rooms are able to at least identify and then contained should somebody walk in with that kind of a virus?

COHEN: Right. So let's talk about the emergency room part first and then the treatment part. The CDC reached out to hospitals several months ago and said, look, when someone comes in way fever, you need to ask them about whether they recently traveled to an Ebola affected country, and, in addition -- I mean, they didn't say this, but I think it was sort of assumed. You need to remember if they tell you yes because that was the issue with the hospital in Dallas was that they were told that they knew he had traveled, but they had forgotten at some point in his care. That's the way it was sort of explained.

So, I think it's difficult to train every single emergency room in the country to do this exactly right. Many, many people show up in emergency rooms with fevers. And to remember to ask every single one of these people if they have been to West Africa is not always -- it's just not always going to happen, and it's not always going to be remembered if they give the answer is yes.

As far as treatment goes, certainly the kind of fluid management that is supposed to be done with Ebola patients, keeping them hydrated and their (INAUDIBLE) balance. I mean, certainly, any hospital with it in such care unit would know how to do that. The issue is do they know how to protect their own workers? Because as we've seen, this is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

FEYERICK: No question about that.

And also, just quickly, Elizabeth, at Dallas, they're doing something different in their emergency room. Tell us what's going on now?

COHEN: Right. They've asked for ambulances to be diverted, at least for a period of time, away from their emergency room. In other words, to have emergency patients sent to other hospitals. They said that there are some staffing issues. They didn't say that when Duncan was being treated, so it's not clear to me why this one Ebola patient is passing their staff more than the patient that was there before her. Each time they've had just one patient.

My feeling is it might be something that they just want to sort of calm the public. They understand that the public might be a little bit antsy about this and it might make feel better if there is an ambulance to know that they are going someplace else.

FEYERICK: Yes, no question. I was in an emergency room the other day, and one thing that I was told by the doctors, they can actually treat in two different areas of an emergency room. The people walking in, obviously, are going to be more frightened today given what's going on.

Elizabeth Cohen for us there on the telephone. Thank you so much. Great job by keeping us all up-to-date on this story, this developing story.

COHEN: Thank you.

FEYERICK: Well, the world is dealing with an Ebola crisis right now, but it's not the first time that Americans have heard of the deadly virus. The first known outbreak of the disease in the U.S. happened back in 1989 and that's when laboratory monkeys at a research facility in western Virginia became infected with a previously unknown strain of the virus. Back then scientists were worried Ebola could be spread through the air.

My guests right now Doctors Jerry and Nancy Jaax, scientists who were part of the army team that race to contain this outbreak. The team story was later told in a book. You may all remember, "the Hot Zone." It became the inspiration for the 1995 movie "Outbreak."

Well, first of all, to you both, thank you so much for being here to explain this.

Jerry, let me start with you. We know that the infected nurse was wearing protective gear. The CDC is saying she inadvertently breach protocol. Both of you have been in the situation. So where are the potential vulnerabilities? Where are the infection point so to speak?

DR. JERRY JAAX, PART OF THE 1995 EBOLA OUTBREAK TEAM: Well, we don't know exactly what happened to the nurse, but there are a lot of different things that can happen, depending on what it is that she's doing. Clearly, you have to be very careful about it and attention to detail when you are working in a potentially infected environment. We don't know what happened with her, but there are a lot of different places it can happen, and it's one of the reasons that training and focus are so important when you are working in lab containment.

FEYERICK: And Nancy, you were actually in the lab, and you were the one who was doing sort of -- you were working with the dead monkeys effectively, trying to figure out the Ebola and how it gestated in the body itself. How did you make sure that you never were at exposing yourself, just inadvertently?

DR. NANCY JAAX, PART OF THE 1995 EBOLA OUTBREAK TEAM: Well, first of all, me and a whole lot of other people, this was a huge effort at the time. We are so used to dealing with the agent. We essentially do it on a daily basis and the procedures are very well engrained in us. We know what to do in an emergency. It's training, training, and more training. So that you can imagine that when you are in a research lab, the last thing that you want to happen is have an organism or a containment failure. So we were extremely careful about that.

FEYERICK: You talk about focus. You talk about having a buddy. What is the importance there in terms of should these health care workers always be working in teams?

N. JAAX: We believed it was important, and keep in mind what our teams did were -- it's a point where it's one of the most dangerous things you can do. You're harvesting organs. You are collecting tissues. And so, we in our group never went in alone. I think it's easy to become tired. It is a little bit easy sometimes to lose your focus. But your buddy makes sure that nothing happens.

They are watching you as well as what you are doing and you look out for each other. You make sure that your decontamination is done correctly. It's a lot different when you are in a BL-4 lab that's designed to do this because the procedures are different and when are you in the field. But that buddy system is even more important when you are not in BL-4 quote "facility" because you have to decontaminate everything that's used. You have to be very careful about what's done, so.

FEYERICK: So you really need either a supervisor or a buddy. Jerry, what about you? Look, you wrote this book "Outbreak." There

was a big fear that perhaps the Ebola that you were working with back then with the monkeys might be airborne, might be aerosolized somehow. Is that a big concern now? People are frightened enough, but what were your concerns back then when you were dealing with this, and how do you translate them to where we are at this point?

J. JAAX: Well, I think, you know, the issue that we looked at was that when we first were alerted that there was an Ebola outbreak in these monkeys, we thought it was contained in one room, and when we got down there and actually responded to the outbreak and we looked at -- and we looked at what the -- what was happening within the facility, there were numerous rooms that had become infected.

And so, we were looking for ways that this would -- that this would be transmitted. It had never been seen in monkeys before. This was a complete emergency. Nobody knew that it was going to show up, and we sort of cobbled together a response to it. And certainly, airborne was one of the things that we were concerned about because these rooms shared an air supply. They could have well been fomites(ph) or from which is an (INAUDIBLE) object that has the virus on it. Certainly, it can be transmitted like that, and the people that worked in the facility prior to identifying Ebola may well have transferred the agent from one room to another.

As far as how it relates to what we're dealing with now, you know, I have seen no indication that this is an airborne threat. Certainly a droplet threat. That's sort of a fine line, a defining what aerosol is, but clearly droplets, I would be very concerned about droplets threat, but I don't think it's airborne. And clearly, we're really lucky that this is not airborne.

FEYERICK: Yes. There's no question about that.

Doctors Jerry and Nancy Jaax, thank you both so very much. Clearly, hospitals and healthcare workers around the country getting a crash course in how you deal and how you protect yourself from Ebola. Thank you both so very much.

J. JAAX: Thanks a lot.

FEYERICK: And despite of series of new airstrikes, ISIS militants are pushing ahead on two fronts. We will go live to Baghdad and hear one U.S. military says the city is not in danger of falling to the militant group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, the U.S.-led coalition has unleashed nine new airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. That does not seem to be stopping the ISIS terrorists from advancing.

In Syria, there were more clashes early this morning in the besieged town of Kobani which is on the Turkish border. A fighter tells CNN that the town now is strangely quiet and that in of itself is sparking fears that ISIS is quote "preparing something." To the south, there have been deadly explosions in parts of Iraq. One

of the blasts kill the Anbar police chief. It is not clear whether ISIS is responsible, but the terror group is tightening its grip on Anbar province. The province's leaders are pleading for U.S. ground troops to defend it against ISIS. The White House, however, insists that Iraqi forces can defend the capital which is right nearby.

Well CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Baghdad.

And, Ben, there have been a series of bombs in Baghdad this weekend. You have talked in the past about sleeper cells. Despite all of this, the White House is saying that there really isn't any concern about is and any sort of march to Baghdad.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deborah, I think what they're saying is that there's no worry about a frontal assault on Baghdad. The idea that, for instance, that ISIS could take Baghdad along the lines they did in Mosul in June. The administration thinks it's unlikely. And here on the ground it doesn't look like that is going to happen any time soon.

Not just because of the fact that ISIS doesn't really have a lot of forces in the Baghdad area, but Baghdad is a huge city populated by mostly Shia who hate ISIS. And in addition, despite the weaknesses of the Iraqi army, which had been on vivid display now for several months, there are other players involved. Tens of thousands of Shia volunteers have been trained and armed to protect the capital and other Shia holy areas in cities. Iran definitely would not like to see Baghdad falling to ISIS as well. The United States is carrying out regular airstrikes on ISIS in Anbar province. They are American advisers advising Iraqi troops on the western perimeter of Baghdad. So it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

But certainly, the problem, of course, is these bombs that are going off on a regular basis last night more than 40 people were killed and twin car bombings today, not in Baghdad, but not far from it, another triple bombing as well. So that seems to be what worries Iraqi security officials the most -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: Yes. Incredibly unsettling and clearly ISIS still has plans, and they've tin over now about 80 percent of Anbar province.

Ben, I want you to stay with us because we're going to be bringing in Barbara Starr from the Pentagon, also host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Candy Crowley, and Kimberly Dozer who joins the conversation. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: ISIS forces are advancing in Kobani along the Turkish- Syrian border. And the terror group has reportedly now also taken control of most of Anbar province near Baghdad. The White House insist the city isn't in danger. But at the same time, it's sending some mixed messages.

On Friday, then Secretary Chuck Hagel said that Anbar province was in trouble. Twenty-four hours later, he offered a very different perspective. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Anbar province is in trouble. We know that. The United States and coalition partners are helping on Baghdad Anbar province.

Iraqi security forces are in full control of Baghdad and continue to strengthen their positions in Baghdad. We continue to help them with airstrikes, with our assistants and our advisors, which I have at the direction of President Obama added to our numbers there. I think in Iraq today with our coalition partners we are up around 300 airstrikes. We'll continue with those air strikes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: We've got full analysis of the latest developments. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon, Ben Wedeman in Baghdad for us, Kimberly Dozier is a CNN global affairs analyst and a contributing writer for "the Daily Beast" and CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Washington.

So first of all, I want to start with you, Barbara, because CENTCOM sent out a press release yesterday that said that there was no imminent threat of an effective ISIL offensive. So the problem I have is the words imminent threat and the word effective ISIS offensive. So what are they really saying? Are they just saying, like, right now we're OK, but maybe tomorrow it could be different, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Yes. I think that's probably a pretty straight bet, Deb. You know, the Pentagon is sort of at this point messaging in very plus-minus black and white terms. Baghdad is safe. The Iraqis can hold to Baghdad. It's not a problem. But ISIS is on the march.

This is going to wind up being a question of what is it really meaning when people talk about the possibility of ISIS taking Baghdad? Can they take an entire city of millions of people, hold on to it and control it? Do they even want to do that?

Baghdad is Shia. These are not people who support ISIS. And so, it will be very tough going. But ISIS may be having a different strategy emerge. Lightning strikes, moving closer and closer, making forays against the airport, against the embassy area against the city. They can cause a lot of havoc without having to go to all the trouble of, you know, quote "taking the city."

And the question on the table is, well, what is the U.S. going to do about it? Even as the president wanted to send ground troops at this point, ISIS is controlling such a large vast amount of territory in Iraq, it's hard to see how ground troops could quickly roll them back -- Deb? .

FEYERICK: So Candy, look, you are there in Washington. When you look at what the administration says, what the Pentagon says, it's not just the words they use, but the words they don't use. How do you parse the language when they say, you know, that we're in full control of Baghdad? What are they not telling us?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that they're not in full control of much else. I mean, I think -- listen, I think that the question is also does ISIS really want to try to control Baghdad? Presumably the U.S. and that's where we are led to believe those advisors are, is with Iraqi troops sort of in the defense around Baghdad. They're advising, so presumably the U.S. doesn't want to quote "lose Baghdad."

As Barbara says, they can go in and, you know, cause havoc without having to take the city. I talk to a military strategist yesterday. The administration said, you know, ISIS doesn't take on the difficult targets. And, in fact, Baghdad is a difficult target for the reasons Barbara outlined.

They've taken over mostly Sunni semi-friendly territory. They haven't gone to the south in Iraq. They haven't gone to Shia territory. They don't believe they really at this point in their strategy want Baghdad. So that's part of what the administration is figuring.

And the other part is, you know, this is an administration that has, you know, said one thing up until the time it changes. You know, nothing changes for this administration until it really kind of reaches the danger zone, and they just don't feel Baghdad is there yet.

FEYERICK: So Ben, let me ask you, and then, Kim, I'm going to come back around.

But Ben, look, what would the tactical sort of strategy be for ISIS given that they are really almost, what, Anbar province is about eight miles from the international airport. What technically could they do to assert a certain dominance over Baghdad, maybe choke it off? What would you -- how do you analyze it?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly one thing they would like to do is shut down Baghdad international airport for its symbolic value. In fact, our colleague Nic Robertson a few months ago is speaking to a Sunni tribal leader who was sympathetic to ISIS and that's exactly what he said. That they would like to shut down the airport and basically choke off Baghdad without actually going into it by cutting all the roads in and out of the city, which -- but the sort of to the south to a certain extent, definitely to the west where there are Sunni dominated areas like (INAUDIBLE) and to the north as well, they could potentially do that without actually going into the city.

This is a huge city, to actually try to control it is a logistical nightmare. The Americans couldn't really control it. The Iraqi military, the police in the best of times had sort of a tentative grip on the city.

So for ISIS to go in would be, if anything, even far more difficult because the hostile nature of the local population. There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where there are sympathizers. Neighborhoods like Amaria Adamia (ph), that have a Sunni majority. But for the most part, this is not friendly territory for ISIS and they probably wouldn't even want to come in to Baghdad. But the outskirts definitely, they could get a foot hold.

FEYERICK: And so, Kimberly, clearly not a friendly area to take over, but still, ISIS is about terror. ISIS is about coming in and terrorizing the people who live there. There have been suicide truck bombs. There have been other attacks. There are sleeper cells within the city. Effectively, they could sort of input their brand of manipulative terror and psychological control simply by having random strikes. How would that change the dynamic of this war that they're waging?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Exactly. I mean, I have to say I find myself nodding along with everyone else on the panel. I don't think that ISIS goal is to physically take Baghdad. It's the symbolism of being able to menace it. It's also what they could cause the Iraqi government to do or to allow the people trap within Baghdad are going to start looking at anyone who Sunni as a possible collaborators, especially with increase bloody car bombings like the one that happened yesterday killing at least 40 people. That means that both Iraqi government forces, , but also the Shiite militias that the Iraqi government has been relying on might step up their tactics, and we're already hearing from human rights groups that a number of Sunnis being killed within Baghdad has been rising.

What this could do is produce a knock-on political effect of further delegitimizing this brand new Iraqi government and undermining what the U.S. had hoped to do, which is convince Sunnis around the country to come back to the fold saying look, this government is going to represent you. That's what happens. ISIS is really winning.

FEYERICK: And so, Candy, how do you see that in a sense because, you're right, this is really a fledgling government in Iraq. There was great hope that perhaps if they were more collaborative, if they brought in the Shias and the Sunnis and worked together, which is the original goal, that perhaps, in fact, you would stop some of the sectarian violence. Do you see that as now a considerable risk given the ISIS factor?

CROWLEY: Well, I think it's always been -- yes. It has been a considerable risk since ISIS came in as, quote, "the alternative." Sunnis have been very upset with being shut out of what they saw as a Shia government.

That changed. Maliki left. A new person came in. You know what, put together a government and then getting people to believe you that yes, indeed, you're going to have this inclusive government that moves a lot more slowly than ISIS does.

You know, it's a combination of terror and distrust of the government in Baghdad that has helped ISIS move across to these sorts of softer Sunni territories. Yes, it's all one -- you know, it is both an on the ground war and a terror war. It's a propaganda war. ISIS has been very good at it.

FEYERICK: Barbara, you know, when you think about it, look, the airport is about 8 miles from Anbar Province, the Baghdad International Airport. That's as close as really the center of Washington is to Dulles Airport.

When you think about the number of Americans that remain in Baghdad, both troops, the advisors, the enbeds, there are a couple of people from the embassy, are they concerned? When does that become a factor in terms of what the Pentagon does or does not do, Barbara?

STARR (via telephone): Well, this is why -- there's buildup over the last several months. The U.S. -- the administration says it is absolutely committed to doing everything they can to keep that airport opening. Then it's -- this may be the real goal of ISIS.

If you can cut that airport off, make it non-usable. If ISIS can reach that tipping point to control that little piece of territory of the airport. That does become somewhat of a game changer because that is the only way out for the Americans, who are living and working in Iraq in the U.S. military in the diplomatic court.

That is their way out, if it all goes sideways on that. The first goal is to keep the airport open. There is considerable -- there is a considerable amount of military defenses around the embassy, as you would expect. Don't look for that to shut down any time soon. Maybe a reduction in presence, but I think all eyes are right now on keeping that airport open.

FEYERICK: All right. And then final word to you since you are there, and we thank all of our panelists for these fascinating insights, but then when you think about the embassy, you think about the green zone, you think about the advance of ISIS, what is the mood within Baghdad? What is the fear? What are you seeing there from the ground?

WEDEMAN: When you go around Baghdad, life seems to be normal, but when you speak to people, they're worried, and I think Kimberly pointed to a very important thing. Is the worry of violence leading to sectarian divisions, and that's really sort of the fuel that could be lit by ISIS if, for instance, there are excesses.

And we know there already have been by the Shia militias that have been mobilized against the Sunni population. The Sunni population is going to give up on this government and already there's a lot of -- there's not a lot of confidence in this new government because you have a new prime minister.

But the rest of the government is pretty much the same, and the worry is that this attempt to bring the Sunnis on board to get them to understand that they're in the same boat as the Shia, as the government in Baghdad is a tall order, and it's not really being achieved --

FEYERICK: Right.

WEDEMAN: -- at the moment.

FEYERICK: All right. Well, Ben Wedeman, Barbara Starr, Kimberly Dozier, Candy Crowley, thank you all so much for this. Clearly, the hope that the Sunnis perhaps could be converted and not go to ISIS. It's seemed that was happening at least for a little now, not so much. All right, thank you all.

And ahead, more on our breaking news, a second Ebola case confirmed in the United States. The first time the virus has ever been transmitted on American soil. We are back with the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here today to communicate about a health care worker who has contracted the Ebola virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The care of Ebola can be done safely, but it's hard to do it safely. It is possible in the coming days that we will see additional cases of Ebola. Breaking the links in the chain of transmission is the key to preventing further spread. That's how we will stop it in Dallas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Now more on our breaking news. Texas officials have confirmed a second case of Ebola. A female nurse in Texas Presbyterian Hospital tested positive marking the first time ever Ebola has been transmitted on U.S. soil. She had, quote, "extensive contact," unquote, at the same hospital with Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan who died four days ago.

President Obama has been briefed on this latest development in a phone call from Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. Joining me the phone is Dr. David Satcher, the former U.S. surgeon general and former director of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Satcher, I want to ask you first, the current head the CDC said, quote, "It's deeply concerning that this infection occurred." Is that an understatement in your opinion?

DR. DAVID SATCHER, FORMER SURGEON GENERAL AND FORMER DIRECTOR, CDC (via telephone): Well, it's deeply concerning is on the statement, not when Tom Frieden says it. I think Dr. Frieden clearly realizes the significance of this, and let me just say all over the world where we've had Ebola outbreaks, health care workers have been most at risk.

In 1995 when we had the outbreak in Zayr, 30 percent of the deaths were among health care workers. We can as Dr. Frieden said, take care of these patients safely, but we have to bring our best resources to bare.

And I am concerned that maybe we ought to think about hospitals that have the special isolation units and the updated infection control units and all of those things because we don't have a lot of experience, and that's always difficult because we don't have a lot of experience with something.

So I'm one of those who support trying to make sure we get patients to take the places where we have the most experience.

FEYERICK: So are you suggesting perhaps the CDC review various hospitals to see which ones are best equipped to handle a potential Ebola cases? Has that even ever been done?

SATCHER: Well, I think, you know, this is the beginning. We haven't had Ebola cases in the United States until recently, and this is the second one. In terms of being treated here, hospitals like, Emory certainly has treated three patients who contracted the disease in West Africa.

And what I'm saying is I think one of the things we need to consider is not just the resources and training, but how often do you get the chance to experience taking care of an Ebola patient? How much have we learned from the health care workers in Africa who have been on the front line, and those who become infected?

A very high number of them have been infected. What do we know and how can we use that information?

FEYERICK: Yes. There's no question. I think at latest count there were some 416 health care workers in West Africa infected with Ebola, of those 233 have died. Among them, two doctors who were considered preeminent in the field and knew everything about Ebola.

When you think about what happened and this nurse and the protocols she was following, this breach in protocol, do you think there should be more or do you think they need to be re-evaluated?

SATCHER: I think we should continually re-evaluate protocols. I think we're learning about Ebola. We haven't had enough experience yet to say that we have all of the answers. We don't truly understand what the breach was and the nature of it.

So we have to keep learning, and as I said before, we live in a global community so, we should learn all that we can from what's happening in West Africa, especially with health care workers.

FEYERICK: And, you know, sir, Doctor, you know, it's -- we do have to keep in mind that, this was a nurse who had extensive contact. She was with the patient, with Mr. Duncan, so the question, though, just to sort of tamp down fears, tamp down worries, should -- how concerned do Americans really need to be at this time?

SATCHER: I don't know of anyone who has been infected who has not had very close contact with patients with Ebola. So I think we're still in a position to say there's no evidence that Ebola spreads through the air, and it requires direct contact with body fluids of a patient.

I think we're still safe in saying that. We should always continue to re-evaluate what's happening with viruses? All the evidence points to the fact that it doesn't spread through the air, however, the body fluids of a patient with Ebola can be very contagious.

They always have. They always will. The more people engaged in this kind of work, obviously probably the better they become at avoiding mistakes.

FEYERICK: And that's one thing that we have to keep an eye on clearly, just to reiterate, it is spread on contact. You have to have contact with either a person or with some sort of a bodily liquid that they may have left behind like sweat, for example. Dr. David Satcher, former head of the CDC, thank you. We appreciate your insights.

And still to come, a plane full of passengers plummet from the sky. Details on the midair scare coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Welcome back into the CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the other top stories making news today. Two different U.S. Airways flights bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, experience problems before landing last night. A flight for New York suddenly lost cabin pressure on descent. A passenger shot this video of oxygen masks being deployed.

And a flight from Greensburg, North Carolina, made an emergency landing because of a hydraulic issue. That plane had to be towed off the tarmac. No one was hurt in either incident.

A large crowd of protesters chanted peacefully near the Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department yesterday evening. As the night progressed, officers say protesters spit on them and threw rocks and bottles. There were no arrests or injuries.

It's been more than two months since unarmed teen Michael Brown was shot by Ferguson police. Protesters want charges to be brought against the white officer who fatally shot him.

Doctors confirm a Michigan toddler died of Enterovirus D68 Friday. A post on a Facebook called, quote, "Team Maddy" said she passed away in her parents' arms. The Centers for Disease Control says the enterovirus is very common, but this strain is particularly strong. The CDC has already documented nearly 700 cases in 46 states.

A haunted hayride north of Portland, Maine, became way too scary when it flipped Saturday evening. Police say a teenage girl was one of two people who had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. She died as a result of her injuries. Thirteen others were transported by ambulance. Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of the accident.

ISIS fighters have already seized oilfields and huge blocks of territory in Syria and Iraq, but they may have thousands of civilians trapped on the border with Turkey.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- Kobani Saturday. The frontline still moving west, it seems, shrinking Kurdish ground, some fleeing. These men's truck stuck on the railway. Some of the shots get closer. They duck.

Then edge towards a largely closed Turkish border. This is probably an ISIS truck hit as it rammed towards Kurdish lines, one site particularly important. Two of these Kurdish fighters were clearly female and the facts they hold ground this far east means ISIS is yet to seize the official crossing into Turkey which would mean they encircled the Kurds.

It would bring some relief to a world and locals anxiously watching hearing the U.N. suggest over 10,000 civilians could be trapped by the fighting.

(on camera): Kobani is moving quickly, but it's how many people still remain inside the city, civilians. Will the Turkish army sat on the hilltop watching this tragic scene unfold? Will they intervene and permit a humanitarian corridor?

(voice-over): To the far west a rare sight. The Turkish Army letting some men cross into Turkey and to this Laurie. Not allowed to stop and talk, they shouted to us. They knew of hundreds trapped just across from the official crossing with Turkey, faces that speak of the savagery looming large over this town. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, near Kobani.

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FEYERICK: Ahead, more of our live breaking coverage on Ebola. What the head of CDC says an infected nurse in Texas is likely not the last case.

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ANNOUNCER: Michael Chang was just 17 years old when he became the youngest male player to win a grand slam singles title at the French Open in 1989. Following a 15-year career, the tennis hall of famer is now relishing the next chapter in his life.

MICHAEL CHANG, TENNIS PLAYER: Getting married and having two kids now, you know, it changes so quickly. It puts a lot of things into perspective actually. You know, you think that for the tennis player, tennis is the life. Everything you do as a professional tennis player revolves around preparation and training and traveling and all that stuff.

But when you have a family and you get married, you think to yourself, wow, tennis is important, but it's nowhere near as important as this.

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