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CNN Sunday Morning

Officials Continue Search for Cause of Nguyen's Anthrax Infection

Aired November 18, 2001 - 08:45   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities in New York have gone underground, now searching New York subway routes taken by Kathy Nguyen, looking for clues in her death caused by anthrax inhalation.

But as CNN's Brian Palmer explains, the search turned up plenty of substances, but none of them anthrax.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kathy Nguyen was laid to rest by friends and colleagues the first week in November. She is the only New Yorker known to have died of anthrax in the recent wave of incidents. All the other cases have been linked to pieces of mail laced with anthrax spores, but not Nguyen's.

Government and health officials are still puzzled by the death of the 61-year-old hospital stockroom worker.

MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI, NEW YORK: We're very, very upset by her death. And we would all prefer to know the precise way in which it happened, how she contracted anthrax. It would make us feel a lot more comfortable about understanding what has to be done in the future to protect people against it. But right now, the authorities are unable to figure out exactly how it happened.

PALMER: Investigators hoped reconstructing her daily routine and retracing her steps from her home in the Bronx to her job at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, would tell them how she contracted the disease. Tests of her apartment and workplace turned up no trace of the spores that cause the disease.

So the investigative team went underground, to examine the subway line Nguyen took to work.

DR. NEAL COHEN, CITY OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: The CDC informed us this afternoon that to this point, there is no growth that is suspicious of anthrax. But as we know, the subway system is not a sterile environment.

PALMER: Bad news for investigators, but good news, in a sense, for New Yorkers.

DR. MICHAEL BADEN, FORMER NEW YORK CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: That essentially rules out the possibility of a release in the subway system, or in any public place. Other people would have gotten symptoms, or other people would have died. That happens within a week or two.

PALMER: Final results from the Lexington Avenue subway won't be available for several days. But at this point, authorities say they're not pinning their hopes on detecting anthrax there, leaving them with far more questions than answers.

Brian Palmer, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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