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American Morning
House Call: Smallpox Myths
Aired December 20, 2002 - 07:52 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: Time to look at some of today's top health stories. Let's turn to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who joins us from Atlanta this morning.
Good morning, doctor. What's on your docket this morning?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
We've been talking about smallpox for so long, yet there's still quite a few misconceptions out there, according to a recent Harvard poll. Let's look at some of the misconceptions and try and clarify them quickly.
First of all, about 28 percent of the country, people polled actually, think they would actually die from the vaccine. That number is actually about less than 1 to 2 in a million.
Only 16 percent of the people thought the government has enough of the vaccine, enough of the vaccine supply for everyone. In fact, the government believes that if needed, they could actually dilute whatever vaccine supply they have and quickly vaccinate everybody if they needed to do that.
Fifty-eight percent of the people believe vaccination within days of exposure will not prevent contraction of the disease. In fact, this is one of the few vaccines where you can actually take the vaccine after you've been exposed and still get 100 percent protection.
So, just some clarification of some of those misconceptions. We'll keep talking about these to reinforce those.
Also really quickly, Paula, dietary supplements, a huge industry, a $17 billion industry, and people have been -- critics of the industry have been sort of concerned that there have been unsubstantiated, maybe even outlandish, claims on some of these dietary supplements. You and I have read them both.
Well, the FDA wants to step in and do something about that through an independent testing program to actually certify some of these dietary supplements, so that when you buy them, what they say is in there is actually in there. That's their goal.
Their goal also to try and get healthy and more educated consumers -- Paula.
ZAHN: Do you take supplements?
GUPTA: I do. I take a couple of them.
ZAHN: I do, too.
GUPTA: Yes.
ZAHN: They can't do you any harm, right? So, they may not be as advertised. Can they hurt you?
GUPTA: Well, some of them can do some harm. Some of them can thin your blood. These are things you should still talk to your doctor about, especially if you're having surgery or something like that.
ZAHN: You are our doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we'll always come to you with all of our questions.
GUPTA: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I'll try and do my best.
ZAHN: In the next go around, you tell us what you take, so we can decide whether we want to do the same.
GUPTA: OK.
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 December 20, 2002 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to look at some of today's top health stories. Let's turn to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who joins us from Atlanta this morning.
Good morning, doctor. What's on your docket this morning?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
We've been talking about smallpox for so long, yet there's still quite a few misconceptions out there, according to a recent Harvard poll. Let's look at some of the misconceptions and try and clarify them quickly.
First of all, about 28 percent of the country, people polled actually, think they would actually die from the vaccine. That number is actually about less than 1 to 2 in a million.
Only 16 percent of the people thought the government has enough of the vaccine, enough of the vaccine supply for everyone. In fact, the government believes that if needed, they could actually dilute whatever vaccine supply they have and quickly vaccinate everybody if they needed to do that.
Fifty-eight percent of the people believe vaccination within days of exposure will not prevent contraction of the disease. In fact, this is one of the few vaccines where you can actually take the vaccine after you've been exposed and still get 100 percent protection.
So, just some clarification of some of those misconceptions. We'll keep talking about these to reinforce those.
Also really quickly, Paula, dietary supplements, a huge industry, a $17 billion industry, and people have been -- critics of the industry have been sort of concerned that there have been unsubstantiated, maybe even outlandish, claims on some of these dietary supplements. You and I have read them both.
Well, the FDA wants to step in and do something about that through an independent testing program to actually certify some of these dietary supplements, so that when you buy them, what they say is in there is actually in there. That's their goal.
Their goal also to try and get healthy and more educated consumers -- Paula.
ZAHN: Do you take supplements?
GUPTA: I do. I take a couple of them.
ZAHN: I do, too.
GUPTA: Yes.
ZAHN: They can't do you any harm, right? So, they may not be as advertised. Can they hurt you?
GUPTA: Well, some of them can do some harm. Some of them can thin your blood. These are things you should still talk to your doctor about, especially if you're having surgery or something like that.
ZAHN: You are our doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we'll always come to you with all of our questions.
GUPTA: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I'll try and do my best.
ZAHN: In the next go around, you tell us what you take, so we can decide whether we want to do the same.
GUPTA: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
