Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Latest Anthrax Victim Laid to Rest

Aired November 24, 2001 - 16:15   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: Final farewells today for an elderly Connecticut woman who died after contracting inhalation anthrax. Her funeral was private, just family and friends.

CNN's Brian Palmer joins us now from Oxford, Connecticut -- Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Jonathan. That funeral was indeed this morning. As you said, it was closed to the press. Just family and friends bidding their farewell. Now while that funeral was happening, investigators, public health officials continued scouring the area, trying to find the source of the anthrax that killed 94-year-old Ottilie Lundgren.

Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went to the hair salon where she had a standing appointment to get her hair styled every Saturday. They took swab samples from an air duct in the ceiling, just to see if there are any traces of anthrax there.

They went to town hall. They've been to the public library. They really are essentially retracing the steps that she took in the past 60 days. Mrs. Lundgren didn't get out much. She's a 94-year-old woman who basically had other people take her around town. So it really is a perplexing case, a case that's as perplexing as the one in New York of Kathy Nguyen, the 61-year-old hospital stockroom worker, who also died of inhalation anthrax.

Now what authorities are saying they do know is that the anthrax that killed Mrs. Lundgren is indistinguishable from the anthrax that's been involved in all of these recent cases that's caused the fatal cases, as well as the less serious cases of cutaneous anthrax.

Now the investigation therefore is essentially proceeding along similar lines, as it has in Boca Raton, Florida where the first death occurred, Washington, D.C. and New York. Investigators continue to interview people that may have contacted Mrs. Lundgren. They are doing these swabbing samples across a wide range of places. They're even going back and asking hospitals to go over their books and see if there are any people who may have misdiagnosed with upper respiratory infections, who may have had anthrax.

And at the end of the day, Jonathan, they're comparing their notes to see if they can make any progress in this investigation. MANN: Brian, it's a mystery for the whole country, but for a quiet community like Oxford, Connecticut, it's obviously something more. What's Oxford like these days? What are its people feeling?

PALMER: Well, there is a certain frustration with the presence of so many members of the media. But there was a town hall meeting last night. There about 200 people that gathered at a local middle school to ask these people from the CDC, from the Department of Health how seriously at risk they were.

And they got a presentation from the authorities. I think some people went away satisfied. Other people still have questions. And I think as the investigation proceeds, more answers are going to have to be provided to people -- Jonathan.

MANN: Brian Palmer in Oxford, thanks very much.

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