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American Morning

Connecticut Governor Discusses Anthrax Case

Aired November 21, 2001 - 08:02   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, let's get back to that anthrax. One question in Connecticut has been answered on this day before Thanksgiving. Gov. John Rowland says that a case of inhalation anthrax has now been confirmed. That, however, raises plenty of other questions.

CNN's Michael Okwu is standing by.

He is in Derby, Connecticut, this morning. He's got the very latest for us on this 94-year-old woman who has been infected -- Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. The results of the conclusive tests taken by the CDC were sent here to Griffin Hospital at about 4:30 this morning, and they confirmed that the 94-year-old woman does, in fact, have inhalation anthrax.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. STEPHEN SPEAR, GRIFFIN HOSPITAL: She presented with very, very nonspecific symptoms: general malaise, feeling poorly, fevers, poor appetite, wouldn't eat anything, a little bit short of breath.

DR. KENNETH DOBULAR, GRIFFIN HOSPITAL: For all of us, it was difficult to believe that anthrax has entered our midst and far removed from New York City or Washington, D.C., and is now in an otherwise bucolic, rural town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, the woman was driven here on Friday by one of her relatives after she complained of having some respiratory problems.

Authorities here are perplexed by her case. She clearly is not a postal worker, and she has no apparent connection to any government facilities. So they have no idea, at this point, why or how she got this inhalation anthrax.

At this point, the FBI and state authorities have sealed off her home. They are questioning friends and relatives and any neighbors that she might have had in the area, essentially, trying to retrace her steps. And again, this is a woman who was largely confined to her house. She could move, but she did not walk around very often. She is now in critical condition, as you mentioned, Leon, and she is now the second baffling case for investigators in as many months, the first one, of course, being Kathy Nguyen, the 61-year-old hospital worker who died last month in New York.

We understand that there will be a press conference this morning at the hospital. We hope that they will give us the latest details -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Michael -- we'll check back with you later on then, all right?

Now, this is the first case of the disease showing up in Connecticut, and Gov. John Rowland joins us now live from the state capital of Hartford this morning to give us the very latest.

Governor, thank you very much for taking time with us this morning.

I know you've got to be a bit taken aback by the news this morning with the confirmation coming in about this anthrax here. Have you come up with any other answers here, any other ideas as to how this may have possibly happened?

GOV. JOHN ROWLAND (R), CONNECTICUT: Well, we really have a difficult time tracking the source. One of the things that we're doing as a precaution, two postal facilities -- one in Seymour and one in Wallingford -- direct the mail towards the resident's home. So we're working with the postal workers there. We're going to probably give out antibiotics to some 1,500 employees from those two facilities, as a precaution.

But I should also point out that the Wallingford facility, which is the main one, had been checked as late as November 11, and it was determined to be a clean facility. We had checked for anthrax for other traces. So that was done literally just two weeks ago, and here we are facing this terrible situation.

As you mentioned, the woman has not been all that mobile -- 94 years old, very limited schedule. So we're really perplexed as to how the source of the anthrax could have gotten to her.

So we're going to continue to reach out. The FBI is at the house. They're looking through her belongings. We're interviewing residents. We have talked to her family members, and you know, right now, we don't have any clues. It's very similar to the New York case, and you know, we're going to just try to give people a sense of security and a sense of a peace of mind -- and at the same time, make sure everybody is on alert to this terrible disease.

HARRIS: Yes, if you can still -- if you're looking at the mail as being a possible source here, and you've gone to the point of having mail workers there on a drug regime, are you now doing the same thing at all with the family members or anyone who may have been in the house? ROWLAND: Yes. We're reaching out to all of their family members. There's really a niece that's been taking care of her. So we're following every lead possible and taking every precaution.

We're telling people as well that if you've been into those two postal facilities, if you have any flu-like symptoms, pneumonia-like symptoms, to go get checked out. The difficulty, of course, especially working with the postal employees, is here we are upon the holiday, and people have just finished their tours, and now are maybe heading off to visit relatives.

So it's a little bit complex, but the postal employees and their supervisors are doing a great job reaching out to people and trying to make sure everybody is safe. We've got no indications anyone else has been taken ill. And this woman is in critical condition, has been since Friday.

The Griffin Hospital medical personnel to have picked up on this is extraordinary and very helpful as we've tried to trace the source.

HARRIS: Yes. Any other similarities that you've noticed or been able to observe at all, or hear about at least, between this case and the case of Kathy Nguyen, the lady that our Michael Okwu just mentioned, the only other case of a person contracting this disease who was not affiliated with the media in any way, or in a Senate office in any way?

ROWLAND: Well, I would say they're similar in that they're both puzzling. The hospital worker in New York at least traveled, had been in public transportation, and had been out in the public, and at 94 years old, this resident has not been out of the house much. So it will be easy to trace what she's done over the last two weeks. Hopefully, throughout the day, we'll find some evidence at the house, maybe there's a package, maybe there's something that could lead us to see that this has occurred.

I refer to this as domestic terrorism. I can't believe that there would be any international effect here. But nonetheless, this woman has the disease. We went through six different tests. She's contracted it, and that's of great concern to us in a very remote part of our state. So we're going to continue to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Tom Ridge has been extraordinarily helpful and offered the resources of his office, along with the Centers for Disease Control.

HARRIS: Well, give us the latest on the patient herself, this 94-year-old woman. What is her state right now?

ROWLAND: She's in critical condition. She came in on Friday to the hospital, was alert at the time, is not alert now, and has, obviously, been treated with antibiotics and is responding in a limited fashion. Of course, at age 94, she's somewhat frail to begin with.

HARRIS: Yes. ROWLAND: But we're hopeful that she'll make it, and our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

HARRIS: I'm sorry. I don't mean to cut you off, but you said she is not responding right now. Does this mean that she is deteriorating?

ROWLAND: Well, I'm not going to give any medical condition. That's for the medical officials to make those comments and reports. I'm just going on what I've been told over the last 24 hours.

HARRIS: Sure. I understand. And do you have any idea at all about her prognosis, or anything you can tell us on that?

ROWLAND: Well, just that she's in critical condition, and she is being treated.

HARRIS: Governor Rowland, we thank you very much. We sure do appreciate your time.

(CROSSTALK)

ROWLAND: Thank you, and try to have a great Thanksgiving.

HARRIS: All right, same to you and yours. Good luck.

ROWLAND: Thank you.

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