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CNN Live Sunday

Anthrax Found in Three States, Four Confirmed Exposure Cases

Aired October 14, 2001 - 15:25   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Now for the latest on this anthrax scare which is crossing the United States. There are four confirmed cases of exposure now, three in Florida, one in New York City, and a letter mailed to Reno, Nevada has also tested positive for anthrax. That letter in Nevada mailed to a subsidiary of the Microsoft corporation. The employees who came in contact with it are being tested now for anthrax exposure.

CNN's John Zarrella is standing by in Florida. We're going to go to him in a moment. But first, we begin with Jason Carroll in New Jersey. Jason, why New Jersey?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to tell you, Stephen, that this mail center is the place where the letter in question was processed. That letter that was postmarked on September 18th from Trenton, New Jersey. That letter is the source of anthrax that infected an NBC employee with the cutaneous form of the disease. It's a skin infection. That employee has been identified as an assistant to Tom Brokaw. Also, a second NBC employee who handled that letter may be showing similar symptoms as well.

In terms of the latest update, Mayor Giuliani late today said that a police officer who opened the letter and two lab technicians who handled it were exposed to anthrax spores. But he points out, he says, that does not mean that they've been infected with the anthrax disease.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, MAYOR, NEW YORK: The police officer and two lab technicians who were involved in detecting the September 18 envelope -- and, a number of people, obviously, were tested. When they were tested, minuscule spores or a spore was found in two cases in their nose and in one case on their face.

They're being treated. This does not mean, and I emphasize, this does not mean that they have anthrax.

DR. STEVEN OSTROFF: The presence of spores, either on somebody's face or in the nasal passages, does not necessarily imply that they were exposed to a sufficient number of spores or that -- or that that will ever then lead to any type of disease. And as long as you give these individuals antibiotics to keep them from getting the disease, there is essentially zero likelihood that they will develop disease in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Initially, the investigation had focused on a letter than was postmarked September 25th. That letter also addressed to anchor Tom Brokaw. So far, test on that letter as well as another one that was sent to "The New York Times" has turned up negative.

Earlier today I had an opportunity to speak to the mayor of Hamilton Township. I asked him if some of the postal workers here would be tested for exposure to anthrax. He said that that information would have to come from the FBI, but I can tell you that the latest information we're getting is that at least 600 NBC employees have been tested there, just as a precaution. Stephen.

FRAZIER: From New Jersey, Jason Carroll. Jason, thanks very much for bringing us up to date.

Let's now go back to Florida where the early test results show five more tabloid newspaper employees may have been exposed to anthrax. These are coworkers of the original person who died of anthrax on October 5th. Here with the latest from there, CNN's John Zarrella in Boca Raton -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stephen, as in all of these anthrax cases, be it New York or Nevada or here in South Florida, a great deal of clarification needs to be made and a great deal of care needs to be taken when trying to analyze these stories. And the best way to do it is to start from the beginning.

Initially, 1,000 people, 300 employees of American Media, behind me, and 700 people who visited there or had occasion to be there from August 1st until the time it was shut down by the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control, were given nasal swabs to detect whether or not the presence of anthrax spores.

We have two confirmed cases of anthrax spores, and of course the one fatality, Bob Stevens. No more than that at this particular point. What we do have, though, are 300 of the workers were also given blood test, and during the first blood test, the results of that first blood test showed that a small number, now the CDC nor the FBI is confirming it's five -- it may be five, it may be fewer than five -- showed a higher level of antibodies.

Now, antibodies are germ fighters. That doesn't mean that those antibodies are there because anthrax is present. So, what they're going to do, which was always the plan, was to give all 300 employees a second blood test, so that you can then detect whether there is a change in the level of antibodies.

Once that second test is given, later this coming week, Wednesday or Thursday, we're told, then the Centers for Disease Control, which will be analyzing those blood samples, will have a chance to see whether in fact there is any anthrax exposure in any other cases here. At this point, they're saying they do not have any substantial evidence to say that in fact there is anthrax exposure in five other people or two other people or any particular number.

So, that's where it stands right now. The initial reports had come out yesterday from officials with the, with the paper here, American Media, and some of the employees saying that in fact five other employees had tested positive for anthrax exposure. But that is not precisely what the case is. Stephen?

FRAZIER: John, thank you for walking us through that so carefully. And just one question before we let you go: is there any call on the part of those employees for preventive antibiotics, even before the test results come back?

ZARRELLA: Well, in fact, Stephen, immediately when the nasal swabs were given to the 300 employees and the 700 other people, they all began the 60 day dosage of Cipro. They were given the pills when they went to the Health Department. So, everybody is on Cipro and the fact of the matter is, as health officials point out, no one is getting sick. So, that is a good sign from here down in South Florida, Stephen.

FRAZIER: John Zarrella from Boca Raton. John, thank you for taking such care with us today.

And, here to put all this in perspective and answer some questions, and we hope dispel some misconceptions, and we've got plenty of those, God knows, is Dr. Pamela Nagami, a clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, a practicing physician in internal medicine and infectious disease, and the author of a book which should be coming out any day now, "Maneater." A very provocative title, doctor. Thank you for joining us today.

I guess, before we start talking about anthrax and some of these other diseases we're confronting right now, I guess the theme to take away from your book is that there are plenty of other things out there occurring in nature, presenting themselves in your hospital and others, which in effect are more frightening. And to help put us in perspective, more frightening because they occur more often than anthrax.

DR. PAMELA NAGAMI, AUTHOR: That's correct. My book tells the true stories of 11 serious infectious diseases that occurred in my own patients. Seven were contracted right here in the United States in urban settings, and four were contracted abroad, three in travelers.

FRAZIER: Now, are these exotic things nobody's ever heard of? You do have a chapter about AIDS, and there's another one called Valley Fever, which is about part of California where things live in the ground.

NAGAMI: Valley Fever is a true airborne problem, and we're getting into cocci season here in Southern California. It's an enormous problem for practicing infectious disease specialists in Southern California and all through the Pacific Southwest, the desert areas.

FRAZIER: And what is it, cocci? NAGAMI: It's a fungal disease that people contract by inhalation. And in a small percentage of patients, serious illness can follow.

FRAZIER: And, in fact, you treated a couple of them who were in fact harmed very, very quickly. But now, let's talk about this anthrax business. You've seen this before, too, and you have some experience that's going to be very useful to us.

What people were asking you about when we chatted earlier was the degree to which people can help themselves, and you think it's just getting a sense of what symptoms might be and what happens to you if you are exposed.

NAGAMI: I don't want people to get too worried about specific symptoms, but I do encourage people to, if they have the Internet, to access the CDC site, which provides very honest and detailed information about all kinds of disease that can effect people, including anthrax, travelers hazards and diseases.

I think that knowledge is a good thing. Human beings react well to it, and they become calmer and more effective when they know more.

FRAZIER: Did you get a report that the people being tested now, down where John Zarrella was just reporting from, are getting shunned around their communities in Florida?

NAGAMI: I've heard of that, and there's a natural and deep- seeded fear of contagion that I think is hardwired into the human nervous system. But, I want to emphasize that human beings are a great deal more resistant to anthrax, even than livestock is, and that people have been exposed to this agent for millennia, most of these people who show exposures would probably never have fallen ill.

FRAZIER: In fact, they're talking about finding single spores. I think you write that it would take 8,000 to 10,000 spores to actually infect a person.

NAGAMI: Yes, several thousands spores by the airborne route. Perhaps a lesser number in the skin. People were exposed to anthrax spores in wool factories in which yarn was made in the 1950's and earlier the air was charged with anthrax spores, and yet inhalation anthrax was very unusual, even then.

FRAZIER: And, in spite of the fact that they've gone on this preventative dosage of Cipro, you don't recommend that because of the toxicity of some antibiotics.

NAGAMI: I don't have any Cipro in my house, and I would recommend that everyone who went out and bought it would just put it in the refrigerator and forget about it, please, because indiscriminate use of antibiotics creates resistant bacteria and side effects in patients.

FRAZIER: I have to say that this is a fascinating narrative. It reads very, very dramatically, and some of the things you talk about are frankly nauseating, doctor, like these little worms that infect people and crawl around inside your body for years.

NAGAMI: I think travelers should know about some of the things that can happen in even well provided resort areas. I mean, people can get parasitic worms in fancy restaurants in Mexico and fancy restaurants I Saigon.

FRAZIER: And these are things that live within you for years perhaps, unless they come up against a person like yourself.

NAGAMI: Potentially.

FRAZIER: Well, we're grateful for those insights today, doctor. It's a fascinating book, as I said, "Maneater" is not at all what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was about, you know, hard- strung women.

(LAUGHTER)

FRAZIER: Here it is now. Appearing, I guess, in early November. Dr. Pamela Nagami, thank you very much for joining us.

NAGAMI: Thank you.

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