Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Reporters Notebook

Aired August 10, 2002 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, now it's time for our Reporter's Notebook, and you can participate.
This week, we've seen some good news and some troublesome news on the medical front.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, if you want to e-mail us or call into our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, talking about the West Nile virus or Alzheimer's or anything else medically related you'd like to talk about, you can call 404-221-1855. That number's on the screen right now, 404-221-1855.

Of course, the nation held its breath as California doctors successfully separated 1-year-old conjoined twins earlier in the week.

WHITFIELD: And we also heard that Charlton Heston has symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and we saw cases of West Nile virus popping up in more parts of the country and now seven reported deaths in Louisiana.

So call us with your questions and comments on these very topics.

Joining us from Los Angeles to talk more about these stories is our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka and Anderson, how are you?

WHITFIELD: Pretty good.

COHEN: Good.

WHITFIELD: All right, lots of questions. I guess we should begin with an e-mail question that came in, more specifically about the West Nile?

COOPER: Yes, Victor in Clinton, Iowa, wrote in saying, "If you get a human case of West Nile and you survive it, are you then immune to it., or can you get it again?

COHEN: You know what, Victor, unfortunately I'm unable to answer that question. I do not know, because there has been -- this is -- even though this has scared the everything out of all of us, this is a relatively new virus, it has only been around since 1999. There's not a whole lot of data out there because there have not been all that many deaths or all that many cases. So I don't know the answer to that question.

WHITFIELD: Elizabeth, I did actually read a little bit earlier that in a case of -- if you have already been bitten -- or if you have already been exposed to West Nile through a mosquito bite, that that does make you immune, and you're not likely to get it again. And that's just something I read through from the CDC reports during the week.

COOPER: We -- we're...

COHEN: Yes, I think not likely is sort of the operative word there, Fredricka. I think that I would venture to say that probably hasn't been studied 100 percent, again because this is new and they don't -- they're not tracking every last person that's been infected to see if they were bitten again.

COOPER: Mark from Silver Spring, Maryland, wrote in and wants to know, "How can you tell if somebody is sick from the malaria or West Nile, the symptoms are pretty much the same?" What are the symptoms for West Nile?

COHEN: The symptoms from West Nile, Anderson, unfortunately sort of mimic the flu, really, in its -- in their sort of common stages there.. For example, you could get a fever, you can get a -- but not a really high fever in the more mild case. You get sort of headaches and generally not feeling well. You could get a rash.

And so people might have West Nile infection and not even know it. When it gets bad, when it gets much worse, the fever gets higher, someone can become paralyzed, they could go into a coma.

So what experts are telling us is, You know what? If you're in one of the states that has seen West Nile, where there have been cases of West Nile, and you're having those symptoms, go to your doctor. There's no reason why not to.

COOPER: Now, Mark -- but, now Mark is pointing out that the symptoms from West Nile are similar to those for of malaria. I actually had malaria when I was a kid, and, I mean, it's -- the symptoms you described sound just like malaria.

COHEN: Right, you would have to go to your doctor and they would have to make a differentiation. I mean, I think most of it is going to be based on where you've been.

COOPER: Right, there's no malaria, obviously, in the United States.

COHEN: Right, exactly.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's a difference there too, you can actually -- you can get vaccinated to protect yourself against malaria. Well, you can't do that for West Nile.

COOPER: Well, I mean, you can take prophylactics, but it's not necessarily guaranteed that it can prevent... (CROSSTALK)

COHEN: For West Nile, it's interesting, because they are working on a vaccine, NIH, Walter Reed, some private companies are working on a vaccine. So that's the hope, that they do develop one.

WHITFIELD: And that was, that question was prompted by Mark in Silver Spring, Maryland. That's my home town, I wonder if I know Mark?

COOPER: Very possibly.

WHITFIELD: Wish he would have left his last name.

All right, well, here's another e-mail, this one coming from Sandra C. of Oklahoma city. And she asks, "Birds, people and horses get it from mosquitoes. Can dogs and cats get it? Can cats get it from eating dead birds? Can other wild animals get it?" She's got a lot of questions there.

COHEN: Yes, animals can get it, and there have been cases of animals getting West Nile virus. So there you have it. Yes, that can happen.

COOPER: Elizabeth, we have a call right now from Joe in Georgia. Joe, go ahead, what's your question?

CALLER: Yes, thank you very much. Ms. Cohen, I'm in very good shape. I walk four miles a day. In the event that I am bitten by a mosquito carrying the West Nile virus, will the fact that I'm in real good shape, would that help me fight off the effects of the infection?

COHEN: Well, you know what? You sound like you're pretty young, I'm just going to venture a guess here, that you're sort of in your 20s, 30s, 40s, somewhere in there, and that's probably going to be one of your best protections. The folks who are affected by West Nile tend to be older.

The age is, unfortunately, coming down a bit, so that younger people are getting affected. But most of the people who have died from West Nile are in their 70s or even older. There have been some cases of people in their 50s.

So being younger helps, and, yes, anything that you can do to get your immune system up, including keeping fit, that can help you fight off not just a West Nile infection but any kind of infection. The better shape your immune system is and your body is, the better off you're going to be.

COOPER: All right...

WHITFIELD: All right, Elizabeth, we've got a question here that's been e-mailed in about Alzheimer's, given that Charlton Heston yesterday announced that he is experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, but it's not stopping him. This question coming from Dale Friesen, who says, "Have there been any dietary factors identified as contributing to the condition known as Alzheimer's disease?"

COHEN: That's a good question, Dale. You know what? There is some suggestion that folks who get a lot of vitamin E in their diet have a lower risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. They're not absolutely sure. They need to do more studies. But there is some evidence that that's true, vitamin E.

COOPER: All right. Well, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much for joining us from L.A., and we appreciate you getting up early with us. Thanks.

COHEN: Oh, no problem.

WHITFIELD: Fielding all those questions.

COOPER: All right.

COHEN: My pleasure.

COOPER: And we appreciate our viewers for writing and calling in.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com