Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Mayo Clinic's New Anthrax Test Has Not Been Approved Yet

Aired November 06, 2001 - 07:48   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Mayo Clinic says a new test that enhances detection of anthrax could be ready within weeks, but some medical experts have concern about the test. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is at CNN center with the promise and the problems of this new test. Good morning Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Miles. Miles, let's talk for a minute about why a new test is needed. Right now when there are all these anthrax outbreaks that we've been hearing so much about, there's no really good way for doctors to go in and test people, so they just give everyone antibiotics because they can't tell who's infected and who's not.

There is a very good DNA test that can tell if someone's infected, but there's a problem. It's only available in very few labs - just a handful. For example, the CDC labs here in Atlanta. So what the Mayo Clinic has done is they said they've developed a DNA test that they said can be done locally in labs around the country and they hope to start shipping it out by the end of the week.

There are several buts here, and let's begin with the big one. It hasn't been approved by the FDA yet. The CDC has not validated it. In other words, they haven't said yes, this appears to work. Another big but is that if this used as a blood test, if I were to inhale anthrax right now and they came to test me tomorrow, it may come out negative - I might be infected, but it just hasn't reached my bloodstream yet. It may not even reach my bloodstream the day after or even the week after. So even though I was infected, the test would come out negative.

That's called a false negative. Let's take a look actually at how the whole infection process works. Let's say that these little white dots here are spores. Someone inhales them through the nose and it goes down into the body. These spores then sit around and are dormant in body tissue, for example, lung tissue for quite awhile. You can see here on the close-up these spores are just hanging out. They haven't actually germinated. There's no bacteria.

The bacteria are actually inside the spores and would never be detected in a bloodtest right now. So here's a close-up where you see the spores - they're not in the bloodstream yet. They're just in the tissue. What happens is that eventually these spores will indeed germinate bacteria. In other words, bacteria will grow out of them - you see this green bacteria here growing. Eventually that bacteria will reach the bloodstream, but the big question is will it reach it in time for a test to pick it up.

If it - if it doesn't reach the bloodstream until someone's really, really sick, well that's not, you know, necessarily a very useful test. Another thing that we need to note here is that this is still an experimental test. It has not even been tried out on one single infected person yet.

Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta. Thank you 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