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Ebola Fears Spread; Airport Workers Walk Off Job; Smoke Rises Over Kobani; Passenger Wearing Oxygen Mask On Malaysia Airlines Flight 17; Ebola Patient's Family Claims Bias in Treatment; World Bank States Devistation From Ebola Outbreaks; Ebola Vaccination in Trial Phases; ISIS Tightens Grip; MH 17 Passenger Found

Aired October 09, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, Ebola fears spread. Airport workers walking off the job saying their health and safety are in danger. This as even more questions arise about the care Thomas Eric Duncan got in a Dallas, Texas hospital.

Also, black smoke rises over Kobani in Syria and pressure grows on Turkey to do more in the fight against ISIS.

And the discovery that a passenger was wearing an oxygen mask raising new possibilities about what may have happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 before it went down in Ukraine.

Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington; 5:00 p.m. in Monrovia, Liberia; 8:00 p.m. in Acra, Turkey; 9:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

New questions, new concerns today about the Ebola cases in the United States and Europe and the action being taken by government officials and hospitals to prevent the virus from spreading.

Here is what we know right now. A Spanish nurse's assistant hospitalize with Ebola in Madrid has taken a turn for the worse. Doctors aren't releasing further details about Teresa Romero Ramos' condition and treatment, but a hospital worker revealed disturbing new details about how Ramos' case was initially handled. The worker says Ramos lay in the emergency room for eight hours before being transferred to a hospital equipped to treat Ebola patients. And a physician who treated Ramos for 16 hours published an open letter today claiming his protective sleeves were too short.

Authorities in Australia, meanwhile, say a 57-year-old aid worker who cared for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone is now being tested for the deadly disease.

And here in Washington, D.C., right now, officials from the World Bank are discussing the devastating impact of the Ebola outbreaks. They are meeting with leaders of West African countries at the center of the crisis. We're talking about Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The World Bank president, by the way, telling CNN, the response from some countries to the outbreak is equal to, quote, "putting a towel under the door of a building on fire."

The United States, meanwhile, is beefing up its action plan to prevent an Ebola outbreak on American soil. Cleaning crews at Laguardia airport in New York City are in training sessions right now. They're learning to clean equipment that's possibly been contaminated with infectious diseases, including the Ebola virus.

And another major airport in New York, JFK, is preparing to carry out new screening procedures to ensure that an infected person does not enter the country undetected. It's one of five U.S. airports that will check the temperatures of passengers coming from West African countries with Ebola outbreaks.

And we just learned that Great Britain will also be beefing up screening procedures at London's two major international airports. We'll go live to London a little bit later this hour to show you what's going on over there.

Meanwhile, CNN's Rene Marsh is joining us from Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport. That's in northern Virginia, right outside Washington. Screenings, Rene, we know will start taking place there next week. What exactly are they doing to prepare for this major shift?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the preparations include getting extra staff in place, also briefing and training the customs officers who are going to essentially be on the front lines to find people who may be traveling from these three West African countries and may have the symptoms of Ebola. Of course, some of that training includes teaching them exactly how to use something that looks like this, this is a noncontact thermometer in which they will be using to take people's temperatures. Again, making sure that they do not have any symptoms of Ebola.

Now, we do know that the CDC is training them because we know that they are -- they look for these symptoms, but they are not doctors. The customs officers are not doctors. So, they are going to need to figure out what they need to do, what they need to look for, and the CDC will be leading that.

We do know on Saturday, at JFK, in New York, these ramped up measures will begin. JFK will be the first airport to start doing the very enhanced screening. And the reason for that, I'm told, is in the past 12 months, ending in July of 2014, JFK saw nearly half of the flyers coming from these impacted areas. So, their focus is there first and eventually they will expand to four other airports, Wolf, where we will see these ramped up measures. These are four major international airports.

BLITZER: Yes. And as we just learned, two international airports in London now about to get the same kind of treatment. Rene, we also know that some airport workers in New York City, they are walking out in protest. They are obviously concerned about their safety while handling hazardous materials. Tell us what we know about this part of the story? MARSH: Well, what we know is that roughly 200 airport cabin cleaners,

the people who clean those airplanes, we are told they walked off the job last night at Laguardia airport. They're upset. They feel as if they are not getting the proper equipment and training to protect them from diseases like Ebola and other infectious diseases.

We also know happening to -- which just wrapped up, I should say, earlier this morning, they did receive more enhanced training in this area. But I'm told that training came from a union which they are not a member of but this union was concerned enough to step up and give these workers the training that they say their employer is not giving them -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Rene, we're going to stay in close touch with you, Rene Marsh at Washington's Dulles International Airport. The family of the Ebola patient who died yesterday in that Dallas, Texas hospital, the family now raising new questions about how he was treated. The 42-year-old man, a Liberian, Thomas Eric Duncan, was misdiagnosed when he first went to the hospital emergency room with Ebola symptoms. He didn't get an experimental Ebola drug right away either after he was admitted two days later. He came back and finally got admitted.

Let's discuss what's going on. Joining us now from Bethesda, Maryland, right outside Washington, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He's a real expert on all of this.

Dr. Fauci, first of all, thank you very much. I know you're incredibly busy over there. Our viewers, they've got a lot of concern which is totally understandable. As you know, there have been some grumblings about Mr. Duncan's treatment compared to other Ebola patients, including the two American aid workers who were treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, that NBC freelance journalist who is now being treated in Nebraska. They say there was one standard for them, a different standard for Mr. Duncan. Is that criticism fair?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: You know, I don't think so, Wolf. Obviously, there's a lot of emotion associated with this. It's very unfortunate that Mr. Duncan died. Everyone knows that when he first went to the emergency room, it was not recognized that he had Ebola. I mean, that was a misstep that's very clear, unfortunate. Certainly was not deliberate. I think it was a mistake that could have been made no matter who the person was.

Once Mr. Duncan got into the hospital in Texas, it's an excellent hospital, they provided excellent medical care. I think people need to appreciate even under the best of circumstances, Ebola is a very serious disease. In this particular epidemic, with an overall mortality of a bit more than 50 percent and some circumstances even a lot more. So, I think you have to put that into consideration.

BLITZER: Here are some of the questions we're getting on Twitter and elsewhere from viewers out there. And you're the expert. They say Mr. Duncan did not receive a blood donation or transfusion which the NBC journalist in Nebraska did receive from Dr. Kent Brantley, the missionary who survived Ebola. Would that have made a difference?

FAUCI: Certainly we have no idea. The question of whether or not transfusing convalescent serum is going to make any difference is unknown. It's been done in a couple of circumstances, but because it's not compared to anything and the numbers are so small, it's impossible to say whether that would have made any difference. So, certainly, it isn't like this is an established, effective approach to Ebola. It is certainly experimental and we don't know if it works or not.

BLITZER: The other thing they are pointing out is that ZMapp, we know the ZMapp which was that drug given to those two Americans at Emory University Hospital, there apparently is none available right now, so Mr. -- so he couldn't have received that kind of -- Mr. Duncan could not have received ZMapp. He did receive another experimental drug that you know. It's known CMX001. But he received it several days too late apparently. Would that have made any difference if he had received that other experimental drug earlier?

FAUCI: You know, Wolf, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to give you the same kind of answer as I did. Since these are all experimental drugs that we have no idea whether they work or not, whether you give it immediately, two days later, five days later, we don't know. It's still experimental. So, it's impossible to give an answer if it had been given earlier it would have made a difference. Possibly, but you can't say for sure because we don't even know if the drug works even under the best of circumstances.

BLITZER: Obviously, as you would know better than anyone, there's a lot of work that needs to be done, in terms of a vaccine, in terms of a medication. The process really is only just beginning. Is that fair?

FAUCI: That is fair. We have a vaccine in our phase one trial right here in Bethesda outside of Washington. We'll know a lot more about it over the next couple of months, and then we're going to test it in a clinical trial in a larger number of people in West Africa as soon as we can get the data that we're following now nailed down.

BLITZER: Dr. Fauci, we're grateful to you and your entire team at NIH for what you're doing. Thanks so much for joining us.

FAUCI: Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, there's some breaking news we're following right now. Very rough day here in the United States on Wall Street. Check out the big board right now. You can see the Dow Jones is down about 333 points.

Let's go to New York. Alison Kosik is monitoring what's going on. So, what's driving these stocks in a downward trend, Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A lot of uncertainty and uncertainty really has been the theme all week. We've seen this triple -- these triple digit moves all week, meaning volatility like crazy. So, Tuesday, we saw the Dow jump 200 and -- actually fall more than 200 points. Yesterday, there was euphoria. The Dow jumping more than 200 points and now, as you see, the Dow down more than 300 points.

The foremost worry on investors' mind, what's happening in Europe. From the U.K., from Italy, to Germany, you're seeing those economies slow down. That's causing a huge worry here, because we are just on the cusp of third quarter earnings season. The worry is that the slow down over there is going to affect U.S. companies here even more so, in a broader sense, of what the slowdown will mean for the U.S. economy.

Also, we've got the stimulus that the fed has been pumping into the financial system. That is coming to an end next week. So, there's a lot of question from many investors as to whether or not the U.S. is, quote, "ready for the fed to go ahead and pull the plug on that stimulus." That's really been propping up the market for years. It's why we've seen this bull run. In fact, many are saying that the market is ripe for a correction, meaning a fall of 10 percent from a recent high. The last time that happened was 2011. So, you're seeing lots of nervousness on Wall Street. Ironically, Wolf, just a few weeks ago we were talking about record highs for stocks -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. We -- a lot of us remember six years ago, the Dow Jones was at, what, 7,000? It's now 17,000. So, a little bit of a correction is certainly anticipated. Alison, thanks very, very much.

Still to come, Dutch officials now disclose a major find in their investigation in the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine. And the battle for Kobani, the U.S. launching more air strikes but fighters on the ground say it's not enough.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. war planes and drones launching a new round of air strikes on ISIS targets near the Syrian border town of Kobani. But ISIS militants are inching closer and closer to gaining control of the city. ISIS now controls, we're told, about one third of Kobani. That according to a group monitoring the fighting. One Kurdish fighter there describes the situation as very bad and says ISIS received reinforcements overnight.

Back here in the United States, a hearing was held today for a Chicago teenager accused of trying to join ISIS. Mohammad Hamzah Khan was arrested at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago over the weekend. Prosecutors are asking that he remain in custody.

And the FBI is reviewing now hundreds of tips from the American public about a masked man seen in an ISIS propaganda video. There you see the video. The agency asked for the public's help in identifying the man who speaks fluent English and a North American accent in the video.

For more on the fight against ISIS, let's bring in our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. You spent the day yesterday at the Pentagon. What are they say about

the effectiveness of these drone strikes, these air strikes, because it looks like ISIS is moving and moving and pretty soon they're going to be in control of this strategically important town?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they say that the air strikes are having an impact. In fact, you'll see every day that they're expending a lot of resources there, six, seven air strikes a day and they're saying that they can monitor, that ISIS is being held back from certain parts of the city. But what's odd, Wolf, is, at the same time they're saying the impact doesn't matter. They're saying in no uncertain terms yesterday air strikes will not save Kobani and they've made the argument, both at the Pentagon and administration officials that territory does not matter in Syria. That that's not the goal of the U.S. led air campaign, that the goal is really just to degrade ISIS. They can do that from the air. But they were preparing us yesterday, when I was speaking to Admiral John Kirby, for the possibility not only that Kobani could fall, but that many other towns and cities could fall to ISIS, which is an very alarming prospect.

BLITZER: Very alarming. You heard Buck McKeon, he's the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, saying eventually U.S. boots on the ground are going to be required.

SCIUTTO: Well, the answer is, they're not going to happen, at least in numbers. There's not going to be a large ground force that is American --

BLITZER: A division or whatever.

SCIUTTO: A division, a ground invasion. You may have a request coming from the Pentagon. We've heard this from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey, from Hagel and others saying, listen, if we feel it's necessary to request U.S. troops in certain combat roles, say as forward ground controllers, for air strikes, or forward deployed military advisors, they will ask him, it doesn't mean the president will grant them. But even if he did and even if they asked for it and even if the president granted them, we're not talking about large numbers. So you've reached a situation here where all the players say that a ground force is necessary. The U.S. says that. Turkey is saying that now as it negotiates its participation, but no one is willing to supply those ground troops.

BLITZER: And we're now being told that Iraq, forget about Syria for a moment, Iraq, U.S. military advisors are now going in and helping the Iraqi army at the brigade level.

SCIUTTO: That's right. This is something I just learned yesterday. You know, to this point, those U.S. military advisors in Iraq have been confined to what they call JOCs, Joint Operations Centers, in Baghdad and in Erbil. But behind, you know, a protective barrier in effect, in safe cities. Now they've moved down to the brigade level, so they're closer to the Afghan forces, the Iraqi forces rather, that are fighting ISIS. It doesn't mean they're out on the front lines. They're still in and around Erbil and Baghdad, I'm told, but they're closer to the fight than they were before.

BLITZER: Yes, I know you're working your sources. You'll have more in "The Situation Room" later today.

SCIUTTO: Right.

BLITZER: All right, Jim, thanks very, very much.

Just ahead, the battle for Kobani. U.S. war planes in the skies over the Syrian city as this fierce battle rages on. We'll continue our special coverage of that. Also, a stunning revelation concerning the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash over Ukraine. We're going to tell you what was found on one recovered body.

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BLITZER: A startling development in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The plane plunged to earth in Ukraine nearly three months ago, apparently shot down by a missile. Now, Dutch investigators are saying one passenger's body was found with an oxygen mask strapped around his neck. And that raises new questions about what the 298 people on board knew about their fate when the plane was struck and fell out of the sky and crashed on the ground.

Let's discuss what's going on with CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz.

What does this say to you that one of the passengers was now found, a body, with an oxygen mask on his face?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Wolf, it's got horrifying implications. If it can be shown that this was a -- mask was put on by that individual, and the Dutch are checking it for fingerprints, for DNA, it means that at least one person on the plane had time to pull down the mask that was deployed automatically as the plane was starting to break up and get it around his neck and it's just horrifying.

BLITZER: Because if this oxygen mask is attached to his -- that can't just happen by itself. Somebody's got to attach it --

GOELZ: It's got to be put on.

BLITZER: To this person's head.

GOELZ: It has to be put on and it was most likely put on by the passenger. And this -- the Dutch are building a methodical indictment in their investigation and it's clear from the words of the prime minister that he knows what happened and he's horrified by it and he's not going to let the Russians get off the hook on this.

BLITZER: They're really in charge of this investigation. Is that -- that consistent, a passenger with an oxygen mask, body on the ground, with a missile knocking out the plane?

GOELZ: Well, what's consistent was the photographs and the evidence that the front portion of the plane was, you know, just perforated with fragments, inward facing, high speed fragments. Now, if a passenger was sitting in the back of the plane that did not break up as quickly as the front half of the plane did, it is possible.

BLITZER: So is it curious, though, that only one passenger was found with an oxygen mask, at least so far? They're still -- it's hard to believe, three months later, they're still searching that area?

GOELZ: That's right. And they haven't recovered all the victims yet.

BLITZER: Yes. It's really sad.

GOELZ: And it is a little - it is a little, you know, unusual, but the Dutch will find out. But the question is, is how soon will they start releasing further information as they build this case against the Russians and whoever was responsible for shooting that missile?

BLITZER: Yes. All right, well that's a - it's a horrible, horrible situation that we really, you know, shudder to think what was going on as that missile hit that plane.

GOELZ: Frightening.

BLITZER: All right, Peter, thanks very much for coming in.

Still ahead, we're going to Liberia where the conditions are dire right now. The resources are limited. The outlook is grim. Despite it all, there are though some medical workers there who continue to hope.

And Turkish tanks now in position along the border with Syria. But what will it take for Turkey to join this fight against ISIS?

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