Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Influenza Outbreak Claims Lives in Colorado
Aired November 26, 2003 - 15:05 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 ANCHOR: Along with the cold this winter comes the flu, Colorado already suffering through what one pediatrician calls the worst flu outbreak there in more than two decades. Four children have died there since last week.
Reporter Paul Johnson from our CNN affiliate KUSA spoke with one of those families.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dear Joseph, how are you? You're a wonderful kid.
PAUL JOHNSON, KUSA REPORTER (voice-over): Six-year-old Britney Williams (ph) reads from the card she wrote for her older brother. She recounts her fond memories of him and leaves the details to her father.
SCOTT WILLIAMS, FATHER: I lost my 8-year-old son yesterday to the flu.
JOHNSON: The Williams are a family in utter shock. Their healthy, happy 8-year-old boy had initially complained of nothing worse than a stomach ache. When they took him to Poudre Valley Hospital, they thought his visit would be nothing less than routine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said he was coming home.
WILLIAMS: He didn't have a fever, a headache, or any other flu symptoms, just, as he called it, a tummy ache.
JOHNSON: And as the Williams struggle to understand their loss, worried families across Colorado bring their children to emergency rooms. This flu season, experts say, is still just getting started.
DR. NED CALONGE, COLORADO HEALTH DEPARTMENT: We do have childhood deaths from flu every year. I think what we're seeing now is early deaths and, actually, for this time in the usual flu season, an increase in the number of deaths.
JOHNSON: And that statistic is brought home in a small-town elementary school, where Joseph's family braved the prying lights of television cameras in the hope that their story can help another family.
WILLIAMS: So, if your kids even act sick, just take them in to get checked out, because, if this even saves one life, there's a meaning in it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The Centers for Disease Control and prevention has warned, this season could be worse than usual. One reason, this year's vaccine doesn't really match the most prevalent strain of influenza that's out there right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 26, 2003 - 15:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Along with the cold this winter comes the flu, Colorado already suffering through what one pediatrician calls the worst flu outbreak there in more than two decades. Four children have died there since last week.
Reporter Paul Johnson from our CNN affiliate KUSA spoke with one of those families.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dear Joseph, how are you? You're a wonderful kid.
PAUL JOHNSON, KUSA REPORTER (voice-over): Six-year-old Britney Williams (ph) reads from the card she wrote for her older brother. She recounts her fond memories of him and leaves the details to her father.
SCOTT WILLIAMS, FATHER: I lost my 8-year-old son yesterday to the flu.
JOHNSON: The Williams are a family in utter shock. Their healthy, happy 8-year-old boy had initially complained of nothing worse than a stomach ache. When they took him to Poudre Valley Hospital, they thought his visit would be nothing less than routine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said he was coming home.
WILLIAMS: He didn't have a fever, a headache, or any other flu symptoms, just, as he called it, a tummy ache.
JOHNSON: And as the Williams struggle to understand their loss, worried families across Colorado bring their children to emergency rooms. This flu season, experts say, is still just getting started.
DR. NED CALONGE, COLORADO HEALTH DEPARTMENT: We do have childhood deaths from flu every year. I think what we're seeing now is early deaths and, actually, for this time in the usual flu season, an increase in the number of deaths.
JOHNSON: And that statistic is brought home in a small-town elementary school, where Joseph's family braved the prying lights of television cameras in the hope that their story can help another family.
WILLIAMS: So, if your kids even act sick, just take them in to get checked out, because, if this even saves one life, there's a meaning in it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The Centers for Disease Control and prevention has warned, this season could be worse than usual. One reason, this year's vaccine doesn't really match the most prevalent strain of influenza that's out there right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
