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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Sandy Fryhofer
Aired March 16, 2003 - 07:13 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.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Cases of the new form of pneumonia are now reported on three continents. The World Health Organization has classified it as a worldwide health threat. The organization issued its biggest travel advisory in recent history.
For more we are joined by Dr. Sandy Fryhofer. Good morning, Dr. Sandy.
SANDY FRYHOFER, INTERNIST: Good morning, Arthel.
NEVILLE: Well, first of all, how serious is this in terms of traveling?
FRYHOFER: Well, there has been a travel advisory. Travel has not been restricted but we have now had over 150 cases in at least eight countries. Now most of these have been in Asia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore.
NEVILLE: Thailand.
FRYHOFER: Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam.
NEVILLE: Vietnam.
FRYHOFER: No cases in the United States yet. But there have been two clusters of this illness in Canada.
NEVILLE: Right.
FRYHOFER: So this has public health officials quite worried. It's now hit the North American continent.
NEVILLE: Now, of course, everybody wants to know -- what are the symptoms and is this contagious?
FRYHOFER: It is contagious. It does definitely seem to be spread person to person. Health care workers and household contacts of the people with it have gotten this illness. And, as you said, it is a mysterious type of illness.
And let's go over the symptoms. Now you really only need to worry about this if there is a history of recent travel to a country that has reported cases -- for instance, Asia -- the countries we mentioned -- or if you have had direct exposure to someone who has been diagnosed with this illness. The symptoms are pretty non-specific and pretty common symptoms of a respiratory infection. Fever -- specifically a temperature greater than 100.4, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing -- also, some other flu-like symptoms.
NEVILLE: Interesting. Dr. Sandy, as you were telling us these symptoms we are watching the president get onboard the aircraft that is going to take him over to the Azores for that summit.
Back to this story though. I wanted to ask you -- you were talking about the symptoms.
FRYHOFER: Right.
NEVILLE: And I wanted to ask you -- in this climate, of course, the first thing that pops into viewers' minds is normally is there any reason to suspect terrorism here?
FRYHOFER: Well, a CNN representative did ask Dr. Julie Gerberding, who is head of the CDC, that exact question. And she said that they are keeping an open mind, which is great news with what our country has been through.
But right now the way that this respiratory infection is passed seems consistent with just a contagious respiratory type illness. But they are keeping an open mind.
NEVILLE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) had Dr. Gerberding on the show a little bit earlier and interviewed her. And we are going to have you take part in that interview as well.
Again, we are talking about -- there are people who came down with this virus who visited the U.S. Can you give us a little more details on that?
FRYHOFER: Right. They just passed through the United States. There was a family from Canada who had gone to visit family in Hong Kong -- passed through the United States and they have it.
Also, there was a doctor from Singapore who went to New York for a medical meeting. And on the way back home developed symptoms. At a stopover on his way back home in Frankfurt he was actually taken to the hospital and he and his wife are in the hospital in isolation.
And it turned out that this particular doctor had actually taken care of a patient in Singapore with this illness prior to going on this trip. So in each case there is a link to Asian countries.
NEVILLE: Interesting. So apparently the advice really at this point is to not to travel to those countries if you don't have to?
FRYHOFER: Well, it's an advisory -- it's not a restriction. But if you can put off that travel until we find more out about what is going on, I think it is in your best health interest.
NEVILLE: Yeah -- I understand. OK, Dr. Sandy, we're going to have, by the way, Dr. Julie Gerberding, who is -- she is the head of the CDC.
FRYHOFER: Head of the CDC.
NEVILLE: Exactly. And she is going to be here later. So that is going to be quite interesting. A lot of questions already on this story.
Good to see you this morning. Thank you very much.
FRYHOFER: Thanks, Arthel.
NEVILLE: 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 March 16, 2003 - 07:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Cases of the new form of pneumonia are now reported on three continents. The World Health Organization has classified it as a worldwide health threat. The organization issued its biggest travel advisory in recent history.
For more we are joined by Dr. Sandy Fryhofer. Good morning, Dr. Sandy.
SANDY FRYHOFER, INTERNIST: Good morning, Arthel.
NEVILLE: Well, first of all, how serious is this in terms of traveling?
FRYHOFER: Well, there has been a travel advisory. Travel has not been restricted but we have now had over 150 cases in at least eight countries. Now most of these have been in Asia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore.
NEVILLE: Thailand.
FRYHOFER: Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam.
NEVILLE: Vietnam.
FRYHOFER: No cases in the United States yet. But there have been two clusters of this illness in Canada.
NEVILLE: Right.
FRYHOFER: So this has public health officials quite worried. It's now hit the North American continent.
NEVILLE: Now, of course, everybody wants to know -- what are the symptoms and is this contagious?
FRYHOFER: It is contagious. It does definitely seem to be spread person to person. Health care workers and household contacts of the people with it have gotten this illness. And, as you said, it is a mysterious type of illness.
And let's go over the symptoms. Now you really only need to worry about this if there is a history of recent travel to a country that has reported cases -- for instance, Asia -- the countries we mentioned -- or if you have had direct exposure to someone who has been diagnosed with this illness. The symptoms are pretty non-specific and pretty common symptoms of a respiratory infection. Fever -- specifically a temperature greater than 100.4, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing -- also, some other flu-like symptoms.
NEVILLE: Interesting. Dr. Sandy, as you were telling us these symptoms we are watching the president get onboard the aircraft that is going to take him over to the Azores for that summit.
Back to this story though. I wanted to ask you -- you were talking about the symptoms.
FRYHOFER: Right.
NEVILLE: And I wanted to ask you -- in this climate, of course, the first thing that pops into viewers' minds is normally is there any reason to suspect terrorism here?
FRYHOFER: Well, a CNN representative did ask Dr. Julie Gerberding, who is head of the CDC, that exact question. And she said that they are keeping an open mind, which is great news with what our country has been through.
But right now the way that this respiratory infection is passed seems consistent with just a contagious respiratory type illness. But they are keeping an open mind.
NEVILLE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) had Dr. Gerberding on the show a little bit earlier and interviewed her. And we are going to have you take part in that interview as well.
Again, we are talking about -- there are people who came down with this virus who visited the U.S. Can you give us a little more details on that?
FRYHOFER: Right. They just passed through the United States. There was a family from Canada who had gone to visit family in Hong Kong -- passed through the United States and they have it.
Also, there was a doctor from Singapore who went to New York for a medical meeting. And on the way back home developed symptoms. At a stopover on his way back home in Frankfurt he was actually taken to the hospital and he and his wife are in the hospital in isolation.
And it turned out that this particular doctor had actually taken care of a patient in Singapore with this illness prior to going on this trip. So in each case there is a link to Asian countries.
NEVILLE: Interesting. So apparently the advice really at this point is to not to travel to those countries if you don't have to?
FRYHOFER: Well, it's an advisory -- it's not a restriction. But if you can put off that travel until we find more out about what is going on, I think it is in your best health interest.
NEVILLE: Yeah -- I understand. OK, Dr. Sandy, we're going to have, by the way, Dr. Julie Gerberding, who is -- she is the head of the CDC.
FRYHOFER: Head of the CDC.
NEVILLE: Exactly. And she is going to be here later. So that is going to be quite interesting. A lot of questions already on this story.
Good to see you this morning. Thank you very much.
FRYHOFER: Thanks, Arthel.
NEVILLE: 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
