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CNN Live Saturday
CDC Works on Getting Details of Outbreak of Rare Form of Pneumonia
Aired March 15, 2003 - 14:01 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: First, we want to bring you up to date on that outbreak of a rare form of pneumonia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it apparently spread out of Southeast Asia. Passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight were quarantined in Frankfurt after a passenger fell ill. The CDC is trying to find out more about the harsh strain; 150 cases are reported. Let's talk now to our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, she's got the latest out of New York -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Renay, hello. This is a huge medical mystery we're looking at right now. The World Health Organization calls it a worldwide health threat. They didn't even have a name for it until they saw it and they had to come up with one. They're calling it severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
It has appeared now in eight countries, and may have affected two people who traveled through the United States.
Let's take a -- I'm going to read to you what the countries are -- Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Centers for Disease Control is saying that anyone who has certain symptoms, and I will get to those symptoms in a minute, and has traveled through those countries, needs to go to their doctor to report that they have these symptoms, because it could mean that they have this syndrome, which is contagious.
Let's take a look at what those symptoms are. Anyone who has a fever over 100.4 degrees, or has a cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, any of those respiratory symptoms, and has been in one of those eight countries needs to report to their doctor, or if they have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this severe acute respiratory syndrome.
This disease is contagious. It's not the kind of contagious that you get by walking past someone on the street or by sitting in the same bus. It seems to be contagious when, for example, hospital workers take care of someone. Apparently some of these hospital workers have gotten it from their patients. Or family members have gotten it from their patients when they have taken care of them. There are other symptoms of this disease as well.
And let's go over those -- headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash and diarrhea. One of the tough things with this illness is that those are symptoms of lots of diseases. Again, the key is if you have traveled to one of those countries or if you had contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this disease -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Elizabeth, we know you're still getting information on this. We'll let you get to it. Elizabeth Cohen live from New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Pneumonia>
Aired March 15, 2003 - 14:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: First, we want to bring you up to date on that outbreak of a rare form of pneumonia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it apparently spread out of Southeast Asia. Passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight were quarantined in Frankfurt after a passenger fell ill. The CDC is trying to find out more about the harsh strain; 150 cases are reported. Let's talk now to our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, she's got the latest out of New York -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Renay, hello. This is a huge medical mystery we're looking at right now. The World Health Organization calls it a worldwide health threat. They didn't even have a name for it until they saw it and they had to come up with one. They're calling it severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
It has appeared now in eight countries, and may have affected two people who traveled through the United States.
Let's take a -- I'm going to read to you what the countries are -- Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Centers for Disease Control is saying that anyone who has certain symptoms, and I will get to those symptoms in a minute, and has traveled through those countries, needs to go to their doctor to report that they have these symptoms, because it could mean that they have this syndrome, which is contagious.
Let's take a look at what those symptoms are. Anyone who has a fever over 100.4 degrees, or has a cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, any of those respiratory symptoms, and has been in one of those eight countries needs to report to their doctor, or if they have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this severe acute respiratory syndrome.
This disease is contagious. It's not the kind of contagious that you get by walking past someone on the street or by sitting in the same bus. It seems to be contagious when, for example, hospital workers take care of someone. Apparently some of these hospital workers have gotten it from their patients. Or family members have gotten it from their patients when they have taken care of them. There are other symptoms of this disease as well.
And let's go over those -- headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash and diarrhea. One of the tough things with this illness is that those are symptoms of lots of diseases. Again, the key is if you have traveled to one of those countries or if you had contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this disease -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Elizabeth, we know you're still getting information on this. We'll let you get to it. Elizabeth Cohen live from New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Pneumonia>
