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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Dr. David Satcher, Surgeon General

Aired October 24, 2001 - 07:04   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And authorities have now released copies of the anthrax tainted letters sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and the editor of "The New York Post." Those sent to Brokaw and "The Post" contained an identical message. The letter sent to Daschle was slightly different. All three letters were dated September 11, the day of the attacks in New York and Washington, but were postmarked later. The letters sent to Brokaw and "The Post" said, "This is next. Take penacilan [sic] now." This is the writer's spelling, not ours. "Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."

The letter sent to Senator Daschle said, "You cannot stop us. We have this anthrax. You die now. Are you afraid? Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great."

All three of those letters were mailed from Trenton, New Jersey.

Meanwhile, New Jersey is under a statewide anthrax alert. Three postal workers in the Trenton area where at least three anthrax tainted letters were mailed from have tested positive for anthrax infection. Up until now, anthrax exposure has been confined to Trenton area postal facilities. But yesterday, New Jersey health officials asked hospitals and doctors to watch for anthrax and to review all the records of any recent illnesses and deaths.

And this morning for the first time, there is a warning for some postal customers. Business bulk mail customers who dropped off mail at a processing facility in Hamilton Township between September 18 and October 19 are being urged to take antibiotics as soon as possible.

Well, the United States Postal Service is getting heat from mail workers, Congress and others for delaying the antibiotics treatment of its employees at its Brentwood facility in Washington, but the postal service says it was merely following the lead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And today, as we mentioned, we're getting word medical authorities in New Jersey have issued a statewide anthrax alert.

The Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, is a former director of the CDC and he joins us now from Denver. Welcome back. Good to see you again, sir.

DR. DAVID SATCHER, SURGEON GENERAL: Good morning, Paula. ZAHN: So, Dr. Satcher, can you explain to us this morning how the CDC made the assumption that you could not get anthrax exposure from a sealed letter?

SATCHER: Well, I think until last week we had not had that experience and clearly we know now that that is wrong. But we're all learning together. We have not had this experience before. We've not been here before.

So I think the CDC made the best decision based upon the information it had. And I just want to say I clearly understand the feelings of the postal workers. But I don't think there's any evidence that the CDC has made any decision about that postal facility that's different epidemiologically from what it made anywhere else.

ZAHN: Meanwhile, though, of course, the CDC is not only getting creamed by postal workers, but you've got a lot of high ranking senators also attacking the CDC. Let's quickly listen to what Senator Tom Harkin had to say about its policies yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM HARKIN (D), IOWA: Well, whatever happened at Brentwood, we just can't afford to let happen anywhere else. We count on the CDC. You're our line of defense at CDC to set out the procedures, the processes, the steps we take to make sure that our people are protected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: All right, so even the spokesman yesterday, after hearing that, for the CDC, acknowledged that the CDC basically is a work in progress, as everybody tries to learn about this anthrax. What sort of new regulations need to be put in place so this doesn't happen again?

SATCHER: Well, I think clearly we know now that the risk of exposure to an envelope passing through a post office is real. We didn't know that before. We thought that it was the open envelope and we certainly didn't think that just by merely passing through a post office people would be exposed.

Obviously we don't know what happened in the post office in terms of the sorting of the mail, but we've learned enough now to know that the epidemiology is different from what we thought. CDC would agree with Senator Harkin. We take very seriously the responsibility of that agency in this arena and it will, in fact, gather the information that it has learned and respond to it. But it has responded every day based on the best epidemiology available to us.

ZAHN: Can you shed some light on this alert in New Jersey this morning, where even customers of the post office who handled bulk mail between a certain period of time are being asked to take antibiotics now, here, prophylactically?

SATCHER: Well, I think, again, we're learning together and we're trying to anticipate what the attackers are doing in terms of the use of the mail. And therefore just as we learned, unfortunately, at Brentwood after we had suffered this tremendous loss, we want to try to stay ahead of the strategy of the attackers. So I think part of what we're doing is trying to anticipate what could happen in the future.

ZAHN: So essentially what...

SATCHER: And it's better, as Secretary Thompson said yesterday, we want to be as cautious as possible and err on the side of caution in the future.

ZAHN: So I guess I want to allow you the chance to defend your colleagues this morning. When people were out characterizing this as the senators and representatives get much better treatment, you know, than the postal carriers who handle this mail and potentially some members of the public who came into contact with mail, you're saying that's absolutely not the case, this is a learning curve thing your talking about.

SATCHER: No, but let me say I understand -- Paula, the first thing I want to say is that I understand how the postal workers feel and I really strongly feel for what we have lost there. I don't believe that there's any evidence that CDC has made any decision relative to Congress that's different epidemiologically from what it's made at the post office. We know more now than we did last week, but in terms of the epidemiologically and the recommendations based on that, there's no evidence that CDC has made any decisions, whether the Congress or the White House, that's any different from what we would make for postal workers.

ZAHN: Let's talk...

SATCHER: But I understand how the postal workers feel.

ZAHN: Oh, sure. Let's talk a little bit about the White House right now. It was confirmed late yesterday that spores had been found at a remote mail center that served the White House. We need to make this very clear this morning, this is not anywhere close to the White House. The president saying he does not have anthrax. Is he being treated with antibiotics now?

SATCHER: Well, then I can't -- the treatment of any individual is that individual's business. But I think the president has spoken for himself, so I don't really need to talk about the president's experience.

ZAHN: I guess what, yes, I guess we're trying to figure this out, because the "Washington Post" is reporting that the mail service shut down 10 days ago, or at least has been cut off since October 11. So if that's the case, doesn't it make it less likely that any mail would have passed through to the White House that it could potentially have affected people there?

SATCHER: Well, certainly if the mail has not been going to the White House in the last nine days it would be much less likely, especially given the course. The incubation period for anthrax is usually within one week, not always, but usually. So you would expect that we would have seen signs if something happened prior to that in terms of exposure.

ZAHN: And we need to say that late yesterday, as well, that the environmental tests of specific areas throughout the White House and the 18 acres within the walls of the White House, I guess, tested negative for anthrax. And yet the "Washington Post" is reporting that there is a flu bug going through the White House. Are you aware of the level of concern there when people come down with symptoms that are flu-like and then they're worried about...

SATCHER: I have not seen the...

ZAHN: ... you know, anthrax exposure potentially?

SATCHER: Paula, I'm sorry. I have not seen the reports from the physicians from the White House in terms of the flu in the White House. So I haven't had a chance to review those records yet.

ZAHN: A final word this morning to the American public, what they should be thinking about, what they should be worried about?

SATCHER: The American public and all of us should remain on high alert. They should know that we are doing everything we can to stay ahead of the attackers as it relates to this bioterrorist attack. We need to continue to work together. We need everybody to be on high alert, watching for everything in their environment that's suspicious or unusual, reporting it as soon as possible. We need the front line physicians to look very seriously at anybody with an upper respiratory infection, take no chances, let us err on the side of caution.

ZAHN: Dr. Satcher, very much appreciate your time this morning.

SATCHER: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: We know what a busy man you are these days.

Thanks again.

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