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Chagas Disease in U.S.; Bipartisan Effort on Political Violence; Polls on Texas Latinos; Dog's Heart-Stopping Heroic Save; Dr. Paul Offit is Interviewed about the CDC. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 18, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:48]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, a neglected tropical disease is now here to stay in the United States. Experts call it Chagas Disease, spread by insects, also called kissing bugs. So tame. So innocent. Innocent name for a bug that spreads a potentially deadly illness.

We brought this information to you earlier this week. John was completely grossed out by it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And so what you need to know about it. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back to answer your questions.

Hi, Sanjay.

So, let's --

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I definitely like doing the gross segments, apparently.

BOLDUAN: You know -- you know, it's part of your job title, and gross expert.

The first question that came in is from Deidra, and she, I think everyone would like to know this as well, what's the treatment for the kissing bug disease?

GUPTA: Yes. So -- so, again, keep in mind, as you mentioned, tropical disease has found its way further north because of the warm temperatures. It's a parasite. So, we talk about bacteria, viruses and parasite. What these bugs are spreading is a parasite.

And I guess the good news in that is that there are anti-parasitic drugs that really are quite effective actually at treating this. Benznidazole and nifurtimox are the two -- you don't have to say those, thankfully, those two anti-parasitic drugs

A couple things about them. First of all they're really effective if taken early. But the effectiveness wears off. So, if you're -- if you're worried about this, don't wait to potentially get tested, which you can do through a blood test and potentially get treated as well. So, you don't want to wait on this.

There's, you know, there's thousands of antibiotics out there, there's hundreds of anti-virals. T here's only dozens of anti-parasitics. But luckily in this case, it works pretty well.

Got to take it for 60 days, these medications.

BOLDUAN: Oh, wow.

GUPTA: So, it's a -- it's quite a -- quite an investment of time and energy. Hundreds of dollars to take it. Best to avoid getting the disease in the first place, but there is a treatment available.

BERMAN: Yes, I've got to say, worth it given -- given the symptoms that you described yesterday and what can happen if you do get it.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Fatima in Miami, which is in Florida, which I think is one of the states potentially most impacted by this, asked, can it also affect pets, and does bug repellant, maybe, help and keep these things from biting?

GUPTA: Yes. So, it does seem to affect animals, including pets. In fact, they sometimes are the harbingers or the first to get infected, to give an idea that the bugs are actually there. Moreso dogs than cats when it comes to -- comes to your pets. Cats tend to be more carriers, so they don't necessarily get sick. But dogs can actually get quite sick. They can get infected the same way, meaning that a bug will actually bite them and leave some of the parasite, which can then get into the body. But they can also eat infected animals. That's another common way dogs in particular will become infected.

It can be tough to tell, I mean, because the symptoms, you know, can -- you know, you don't really know what's going on with your dog. They may have lethargy. They may just eventually develop cardiac problems.

But if you're worried about it, But if you're worried about it, again, there is a blood test that veterinarians are now performing increasingly in the United States looking for Chagas Disease.

So, some potential treatments there available as well for the dog, just like with the human.

[08:35:00]

BOLDUAN: This thing is just gross and annoying. There's -- I mean there is -- every question is like, it just gets worse and worse. I'm hating this thing. I mean, is there any -- give me a silver lining, Sanjay, because Stacy asked this from -- from Little Rock. It's a very good question. You said the -- the warm temperatures have brought the bugs north. Are -- are the bugs going to go away when the colder weather sets in? And remind everyone of the early -- everyone of the early symptoms?

GUPTA: Yes. So, there is the silver lining. These things like warm temperatures. That's why they were a tropical disease for so long. And again, the reason we're seeing things like this, including, you know, this -- this kissing bug disease, but also things like Zika and West Nile is because weathers -- the weather has gotten warmer.

But, at the same time, as it starts to cool down in the next few months, these things will drop down to basically zero. If you look at transmission below 62 degrees, these things really are not infecting anymore. So, if you've gotten to that point where you live, probably going to be OK, at least for the rest of the year, the rest of the season.

The -- in terms of early symptoms, again, it can be somewhat vague. You may not know. So, fever, rash, headaches, things like that. That -- the characteristic thing is really what you see on the skin. Something known as a chagoma. So, if you think you've been bitten by one of these things and you see this sort of characteristic chagoma on your skin, or on your face, they're called kissing bugs because they tend to bite on your face in particular, and then you rub the parasite into your --

BOLDUAN: I mean --

GUPTA: Typically that -- that's the eyelid. That -- if you go to places in rural Mexico and Central America, South America, you will see that sign. It's called the Ramona sign, the swollen eyelid, that's characteristic of Chagas Disease.

BOLDUAN: I mean, this is just gross --

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And dangerous.

GUPTA: I'm sorry.

BOLDUAN: I mean if you think --

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

GUPTA: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Bug bites -- bug bites are -- I'm not a fan of.

GUPTA: You got it.

BOLDUAN: You tell me then you're going to give me a bug bite on my face where --

BERMAN: With a parasite, which is nice.

GUPTA: With a parasite, yes.

BOLDUAN: This is a step too far, Sanjay. This is a step too far. Thank you, Sanjay, very much.

GUPTA: Cool weather and anti-paracitics. You got it.

BOLDUAN: I'm praying for a cold winter. There you go.

All right, let's turn to this. Some stories coming up.

Wild video. Attempting to answer the age-old question of, why did the woman cross under the train? Yes, that age-old question. To catch -- to try to catch her train on the other side. Yes.

And a 95-year-old woman in New York is now charged with the murder of her nursing home roommate.

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[08:42:19]

BOLDUAN: So, this morning we are waiting to see if Jimmy Kimmel responds after the decision by ABC to pull his late night show off the air indefinitely. Some critics of the host are applauding the decision after Kimmel made remarks about the reaction to Charlie Kirk's murder.

Before that news broke, I actually spoke exclusively with Senators Lindsey Graham, Richard Blumenthal, Amy Klobuchar and Katie Britt about their bid to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terror for abducting thousands of Ukrainian children. That effort is bipartisan. And because of that, the conversation shifted to a bipartisan matter, another bipartisan matter, toning down harmful rhetoric in the era of political violence.

Now, Senator Britt actually had to leave for a committee hearing that she was kind enough to delay in order to have part of our conversation. But what the three senators who were with me said, that they want to focus on, as part of the solution now, surprised me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Do you believe political leaders need to be the ones to usher in the change in terms of the rhetoric, the environment, the direction it feels the country is going? Or do you think that Americans should look elsewhere for that kind of example?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I think it's on us, but it is also on -- the problem is that so much of the angry hate piece, not this part, is actually exacerbated by the fact that social media platforms right now, in their algorithms, they repeat that five times more than the story.

There has got to be a way to expose that and change the way we have dialog in this country. So, it's a twofer. It's how we act, but it's also what rules of the road are put in place when there are actually people profiting off of hate, anger and, at times, violence.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Amy is absolutely right. Social media magnifies the cancer of hatred. It elevates it. And it is incumbent on us, as political leaders, to try to seek action and produce results, which is exactly what brings together here.

But we also have a responsibility for the words that we use.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): What we're saying is, under law, if CNN or a newspaper defames any of us, we can sue you. But if a website takes a defamation moment and spreads it to millions of people, you can't sue the website that spread the defamation. So, I've got a simple idea, and these guys have been helping me. Let them be sued.

BOLDUAN: This has been debated for a long time, though, and it's never gotten over the finish line.

Do you think this brings -- this -- what's happening, the environment today and what we've seen, do you think that that -- this kind of is the game changing moment?

[08:45:00]

GRAHAM: The world's largest companies in the history of mankind, you can't sue them. If they -- if they, you know, drive your kids to -- to suicide, you can't sue them. So, let's -- let's open up the courts to -- to people who have been affected by social media.

So, my goal is to get outcomes. And outcomes speak for themselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: It was really interesting that they -- that's where they wanted to turn their focus in order to help bring down the temperature as part of the solution in all of this.

Next hour we're going to hear more about their bipartisan bill to name Russia a state sponsor of terror -- terrorism under U.S. law. And the question being, will this new front in trying to bring Russia to heel once and for all, will it help end the war?

John.

BERMAN: All right, we all watched as Texas Republicans pushed through a redistricting effort. One that they think will help them gain as many as five seats in the midterm elections for the House of Representatives next year. One of the reasons that they were able to do this, that they think they can make these gains, is because of the gains that President Trump had with Latino voters in Texas in the last election. But where do Latinos in this state stand now?

Let's get to CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, with I think some pretty glaring numbers here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. I mean, look, these redistricting very much plays into the idea that Republicans can hold -- can hold those gains that Donald Trump made, because a lot of the districts that were redrawn are predominantly Hispanics. Well, Donald Trump's support with Latinos has absolutely fallen through the floor in Texas. They may have bit off a bit more than they can chew.

Look at Donald Trump's net favorable with Texas Latinos. Back last year, just before he, of course, won the state of Texas, he was at even ground, zero points net favorable rating with Texas Latinos.

Look at where we are now. That is a drop of 32 points. My goodness gracious. And, of course, this matches with what we're seeing Latinos nationwide, right? We've spoke about that last week when we saw the absolute decline. What is happening in Texas is happening nationwide. What's happening nationwide is happening in Texas. So, if the bet is on Texas Latinos to stay in the Republican camp, like they did in 2024, that is a bet that they may not, in fact, be able to cash in on Republicans at this point based upon the polling.

BERMAN: You know, and some of the thinking was that they approved of some of then, you know, candidate Donald Trump's economic proposals. Where are they now on the economy?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. The, it's the economy, stupid. That is always the idea in politics. You follow the money. You know where folks are going to stand.

And take a look at this particular one. This, I think, says it all. Texas Latinos on Trump and the economy. Last year, look at this, when you match up Harris against Donald Trump, Trump was more trusted on the economy by nine points. Look at his net approval rating now. Oh, you never see drops like this. He's 40 points under water. That's a 50-point switch-a-roo basically from where we were last year.

The bottom line is that we have seen nationwide that folks have turned on Donald Trump on the economy. Texas Latinos are no exception to that trend. They have absolutely turned on Donald Trump in the economy. And that is a big reason why they have turned on Donald Trump overall. Again, Texas Republicans and Donald Trump have made a bet on Latinos. But at this particular point, charged by the economy, I really am not sure that is a check that they can cash. I'm not sure this redistricting plan will work out quite the way they hope it will.

BERMAN: What do Latinos think in general about the redistricting efforts?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, we're just talking about Donald Trump, right, but let's talk about the net favorable rating, net support among Texas Latinos for the GOP redistricting plans. The GOP efforts, 19 points underwater. They don't like what's cooking going on.

How about the Texas Democrats' response. That's 11 points above water. So, when we match up the Democrats and Republicans, we can see that Texas Latinos are more in the Democrat's side when it comes to redistricting than the Republican side. Again, Republicans are hoping for major pickups in Texas. I'm not quite sure they're going to get their five seats based upon where Texas Latinos are.

BERMAN: Trends worth watching. Harry Enten, thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend. BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, after a 20 year career, a Colorado military veteran began to go down a dark path after struggling with PTSD. That's when Tommy, a service dog, entered his life, helping him through things like dealing with anxiety. And it was then that he found his dog could do a lot more than just that.

CNN's Stephanie Elam has the story on this month's "Beyond the Call of Duty."

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tommy is a talented dog. His owner, Hank Ford, is a retired 20-year military veteran who struggled for years with PTSD.

HANK FORD, DOG OWNER: I was kind of alienating myself from people. I didn't like crowds. I didn't want to go anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he was sleeping, he would have nightmares.

FORD: As the time went on, things really started to get dark.

ELAM (voice over): Enter Tommy. Raised and trained by the nonprofit Dogs Inc.

AMY BERNARD, DOGS INC.: We train service dogs for veterans with PTSD to help mitigate that disability.

[08:50:00]

FORD: He's trained in what they call pressure therapy. If I'm starting to get anxious, the first thing he'll do is sit his chin on my knee. And he pushes down. And it's kind of, everything's OK. If that doesn't work, then he'll immediately go into what they call a hug.

BERNARD: They just kind of put their weight and pressure on your legs, like a weighted blanket.

ELAM (voice over): Hank credits Tommy with turning his life around.

FORD: A lot of people always talk about, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Tommy was a light.

ELAM (voice over): But in February, Tommy did something even more extraordinary. That morning, Hank was asleep when the pup started actin up.

FORD: He's pawing at me and jumping on me, like, you need to get up. And he wouldn't stop.

ELAM (voice over): Hank thought Tommy needed to go out.

FORD: Well, this time he stood right there, and then he started jumping up, and he was hitting me in the chest. ELAM (voice over): Hank quickly realized he wasn't feeling well.

FORD: Literally touched myself in the carotid and I mean it was like nothing I'd ever felt before.

ELAM (voice over): He went to the hospital and learned his heart was in afib, when the upper chambers beat irregularly and rapidly. Doctors shocked his heart and got him in stable condition. Tommy's wakeup call had saved Hank's life.

FORD: The doctor said that there was a good chance that I would have either had a massive stroke or I wouldn't have woken up.

ELAM (voice over): At the hospital, Tommy laid with Hank for hours.

FORD: He crawled in bed with me. I think that's when it hit.

BERNARD: Tommy was not trained to do this at all. Dogs definitely know things that we are not aware of.

FORD: Yeah, you're a good boy.

FORD: I love him to death. He's my hero. The connection that you make with these dogs, it's -- it's special. It really is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Tommy sounds like an awesome dog.

All right, we are standing by for what could be a major shift in childhood vaccine policy. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy's handpicked panel meets today to issue new recommendations.

And then a ghost ship reappears more than a century after it was lost. I actually think it was a real ship. I'm not clear if it was carrying ghosts. The key piece of evidence that helped track it down.

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BERMAN: This morning, a 140 year mystery about what happened to a ship has ended with the discovery at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Wisconsin researchers found the wheel of the FJ King near the ship's stern. The wooden schooner disappeared during a storm and sank back in September of 1886. One of the wreck hunters found an old article about the location of the ship.

[08:55:01]

Using sonar technology, he and a team of 20 citizen scientists located the shipwreck. It was less than a half a mile away from the article -- where the article said it would be. I wish Gordon Lightfoot were alive to see it.

A 95-year-old woman is facing murder charges, is accused of beating her roommate to death. Police say she bludgeoned her 89-year-old roommate with a wheelchair footrest at their nursing home in Coney Island. According to CNN affiliate News 12, the suspect is one of the oldest people ever charged with murder in New York. Prosecutors say she has dementia.

And this morning, police in Illinois are releasing video of a woman crawling under a stopped train. Authorities think she was trying to get to the other side to make it to another train on time. Police say that's not the first time they've seen that happen, and they want the public to think twice about it. I might add, you should think more than twice about it. This might not be a good idea ever, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It might be best to just miss your train on that one, maybe.

BOLDUAN: Miss the train.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, JB.

So, in just a few hours, the CDC's vaccine advisory panel will be kicking off two days of meetings. These meetings are typically not big news. A panel of experts going through scientific data to give their best advice to the CDC on vaccinations.

But there is nothing typical about this panel now and this topic with Robert Kennedy Jr. in charge of the nation's public health agencies. This meeting will include five new members, all handpicked by Kennedy. And on the agenda, recommendations on a slate of vaccines and the childhood vaccine schedule. This could, the outcome of this, very well dramatically impact what shots kids, your kids, all kids, could have available to them from birth through childhood. Important ones like measles, chickenpox, more.

And this debate was part of the focus of that explosive hearing on The Hill yesterday. The now fired CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, testifying that she was pushed out because she would not sign off on these such changes that could be coming even before seeing the science.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SUSAN MONAREZ, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: He said that the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing starting in September, and I needed to be on board with it.

He did say that he had spoken to the president. He spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccine schedule.

SEN. BILL Cassidy (R-LA): To be clear, he said there was not science or data, but that he still expected you to change the schedule?

MONAREZ: Correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is Dr. Paul Offit. He's the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit, thanks for being here.

Just, I want to get your take on what you think is going to happen today and tomorrow and come of this. I mentioned, you know, measles, mumps, rubella, the chickenpox vaccine, Hepatitis B is going to be a big focus as well.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, so you noted it earlier. I mean it used to be a panel of experts. It's not a panel of experts anymore. It's a panel of people who, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., share many of his anti-vaccine, anti-science beliefs. So, anything can happen. Which worries me about today's meeting is that they're going to look at the Hepatitis B birth dose and reevaluate it and perhaps delay it. And if you get Hepatitis B infection as an adult, you have about a 5 percent chance of going on to develop cirrhosis, which is chronic liver disease or liver cancer. If you get it as a baby, as a less than 12- year-old, I'm sorry, less than 12 months old, you have a 90 percent chance of going on to develop cirrhosis or liver cancer. So, it's a very vulnerable time, hence the birth dose.

Now, I think what they're -- they're about to say is they're about to say, you know, if you are in your first trimester tested as being hepatitis negative, then you can delay that birth dose. Now, the problem with that is, it makes two assumptions. One is that the test is 100 percent accurate. And that's not true. There's about a 6 percent false negativity rate. Or said another way, falsely reassuring rate. Plus, you could get Hepatitis B in your second or third trimester. So, this enables you to jump without a net, that birth dose. By delaying that birth dose, then you're jumping with a net -- I'm sorry, by delaying the birth dose, you're jumping without a net, whereas with that birth dose you jump with a net. So, I think it would be an unexplainable choice because it's a safe vaccine. We've been using the birth dose of Hepatitis B for more than 30 years.

BOLDUAN: More than 30 years. I mean this is -- more than 30 years that we've been using a vaccine is a reoccurring theme of what is being looked at once again, just looking at measles and beyond.

On Wednesday, during this hearing, Doctor, Senator Bill Cassidy, who's the chair of the committee, he actually said that if this new group of advisers makes changes to child -- the childhood vaccine schedule, that Americans should not have confidence in their decision. Do you agree?

OFFIT: I completely agree. I think we can no longer trust the ACIP, and by extension, I think you can no longer trust the CDC. It's not just me who says that. People like Tom Frieden and Rochelle Walensky, who are former CDC directors, have said that. I think it's a scary time.

BOLDUAN: There's -- an interesting development with this. AHIP, this major trade group for health insurers, put out a statement this week that is getting some attention.

[09:00:03] I'll read two parts of it, saying, "health plans are committed to maintaining and ensuring affordable access --