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CNN NEWSROOM

Patient Tested for Ebola in Hawaii; U.S. Worker Opens Up about Ebola Scare; Interview with Anthony Bourdain; Young Girl with Enterovirus has Died

Aired October 2, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There's word this morning that another patient in Hawaii is undergoing testing for Ebola. Health officials in Honolulu are tight-lipped about the case saying only that the patient shows symptoms consistent with Ebola and a number of less fearsome illnesses like the flu or malaria. The patient is now in isolation and in the early stages of testing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MELISSA VIRAY, DEPUTY STATE EPIDEMIOLOGIST: We've asked the hospital to tell us about, is anyone with a travel history and anyone with a fever. And when those two come together we've asked them to be very careful and in an abundance of caution, while you're working them up for whatever else might be going on, also make sure you isolate against Ebola just in case that is the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Health officials won't say whether the patient had recently traveled to West Africa or how long they've shown symptoms. The hospital says it's equipped to deal with Ebola if those tests come back positive. No word on when those results are expected.

The scene in Hawaii is one that Eric Silverman is all too familiar with. He's a U.S. aid worker who was admitted to a New York City hospital after showing Ebola-like symptoms. He talked with CNN's Deborah Feyerick about his experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Before the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in Texas, the outbreak tearing through West Africa leaving a trail of death and sorrow seemed unbelievably far away the night Eric Silverman staggered into a New York City emergency room burning with fever, his body racked by Ebola-like symptoms.

ERIC SILVERMAN, HUMANITARIAN AID WORKER: It definitely went through my mind, definitely went through my mother's mind. She was freaking out.

FEYERICK: Two weeks earlier the 27-year-old humanitarian aid worker had returned from Sierra Leone, flying through New York's JFK Airport and then to Martha's Vineyard for a birthday party before returning home to Brooklyn.

(on camera): Did you think about what it would be like if in fact you did test positive for Ebola?

SILVERMAN: I mean it definitely went through my mind that I had come into contact with, you know, probably hundreds of people over the two weeks.

FEYERICK (voice over): His fear of outbreak was overwhelming. Highly infectious and almost always fatal, Ebola spreads through close contact with an infected animal or human, a handshake, a kiss, any exchange of bodily fluids. This summer believing it was only a matter of time, New York State and city health officials warned hospitals like Mt. Sinai Medical Center to be on high alert.

Dr. David Reich and his team were ready when their first potential Ebola patient walked through the door.

DR. DAVID REICH, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: By our time stamps we believe that within seven minutes he had been placed in isolation.

SILVERMAN: I tried to get up and leave and go to the bathroom and there were like security guards outside my door. They said no one in or out.

FEYERICK: Having seen the first U.S. Ebola transport patient on TV, nurses and doctors at Mount Sinai opted for similar protective gear, above CDC recommendations.

(on camera): Were people scared?

DR. SCOTT LORIN, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: The staff was very anxious.

FEYERICK (voice over): Dr. Scott Lorin runs Mount Sinai's medical intensive care unit.

LORIN: They had these space suits on, complete protective hazmat covers with hoods on. And Eric was in the same way. And they wheeled him up -- it was very dramatic when they entered the intensive care unit. There was about five to eight people wheeling him very, very rapidly into the isolation room in the ICU.

FEYERICK (on camera): So this is the isolation room where Eric was kept for those few days. A small team of doctors and nurses would suit up just out here in those special white protective suits. They would go inside, they would take his vitals, they would examine him, take his blood. And then afterwards anything he had come into contact with was wrapped up into biohazard bags for incineration.

(voice over): Silverman was tested for malaria, typhoid, salmonella, even tick-borne diseases -- all came back negative. On day three, CDC tests for Ebola were also negative. Eric was released. Whatever Eric had, it was not Ebola. SILVERMAN: That's just, you know, how the world works today. People

can be in one place one day and then 12 hours later on the other side of the world. I think that just shows that we're all interconnected and that what happens over here is going to affect over here as well.

FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Wow, I want to bring back Dr. Sanjay Gupta who joins me now to answer some of your questions about Ebola. Sanjay, officials in Texas now say they're looking at possibly 100 contacts. They say they're starting with a very wide net, but plan to reduce that number. That news comes with the growing fears about the risk in the United States and whether Eric Duncan could have spread Ebola to his fellow passenger during his flight. So what's the possibility of that?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, with regard to the flight, the folks here at CDC and frankly most people have been very, very optimistic about this, saying that there's really no chance that any of the passengers on the flights or the airports where Mr. Duncan may have walked through en route from Liberia to Dallas are at risk, in large part because he was not sick.

I mean Carol, the best way to sort of explain this is that you don't -- when you get sick, that's because you've got enough virus in your body now that's making you sick. And it's at that point that the virus is getting into your bodily fluids. If you're not sick, the virus isn't in your bodily fluids yet, so you can't transmit it.

I know that this is something that's of a lot of concern to people. But trying to explain this in a way that they understand it's just scientifically not possible to be transmitting the virus until you, yourself, have symptoms. That's why they're saying, look, those passengers, those people in airports, we're not even going to go try to find them. They are not considered contacts. They have nothing to worry about. Dr. Frieden said zero percent chance.

COSTELLO: Let me ask you this, what criteria do officials use to decide who gets tested for Ebola?

GUPTA: That's a great question. It's a little bit more nuanced than you might think. Obviously -- we have a graph we could put up here in a second as well. But you know, there's this idea that if you've been in West Africa and you have a fever, you should automatically get tested for Ebola. It's not quite that simple.

First of all, I can tell you having been in West Africa recently, there's lots of different things that cause fever -- most of them far more likely than Ebola. So just anything from food poisoning to things like typhoid, cholera, malaria -- far more common than Ebola.

But take a look at the graphic. If you're high risk, you've clearly had contact with someone who has Ebola, you will likely get tested. If you're lower risk, if you've been in a household, for example, with someone with Ebola and you have any kind of symptoms, you will likely get tested.

But on the far right are people who may be in West Africa but have had no known contacts with someone with Ebola. If they're healthy, there's no reason to really test them. There's a lot of people, Carol, who fit into that category. We're going to hear more and more about them over the next couple of weeks, I promise you, people who are coming back from West Africa. They develop a fever -- the vast majority of them won't need testing. The vast majority of them won't have Ebola.

It's not that they it doesn't raise a flag when they arrive at the hospital. But if further investigation shows low risk, they probably won't get tested.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, let's -- I want to get to some viewer questions right now. This is from Lucian. He asks, "How long can the virus live outside of the body?"

GUPTA: You know, the answer is probably a few days. It depends on the conditions. Sunlight, UV light can start to deactivate a virus. Obviously, if a surface is cleaned, that can deactivate the virus.

Also the real question I think is how likely am I to catch the virus myself by touching a surface, for example, where the virus lives. And there's a very low chance of that happening, even if the virus is there. The idea that you would then catch it is unlikely. You really need that direct bodily fluid contact.

COSTELLO: Ok. This question is from Hannah. She asks "What's the most likely first symptom of Ebola?"

GUPTA: Well, the most likely first symptom seems to be fever. And that's part of the reason why the screening tests in airports focus so much on this fever. Even before someone starts to develop other symptoms, their temperature may start to rise, and that's the case, that's going to prompt additional screening at airports.

COSTELLO: This is from Wonderful Lady. She asks, "Aren't they afraid the virus can mutate and become airborne?"

GUPTA: Well, the virus -- viruses do change a bit over time. We know that the Ebola virus has changed a bit even since the beginning of this outbreak. But there's millions of different changes that could occur. It could be one of these things where it mutates into something less lethal. It could mutate into something that's more airborne, but not -- doesn't make people as sick. So it's just so hard to predict what those mutations will lead to.

COSTELLO: I want to switch topics because you're here and you're a doctor. I think this is an important question to ask. It's about the enterovirus. A 10-year-old girl has now died. 500 people in 42 states have contracted the illness. What can be done about that virus?

GUPTA: Yes. And I'm glad you asked about it because in some ways that's a much bigger concern than Ebola as much as we've been talking about that. You know, enteroviruses -- we've had outbreaks of enterovirus in the past in this country. They tend to be more seasonal. When kids start going back to school in the fall, you tend to see a spike in numbers just because kids are clustering together and probably that's part of the way that this virus spreads.

My guess is it will eventually sort of die out over time. But in the meantime, you and I talked about this yesterday, the simple things, the hand washing and things like that do make a big difference with enterovirus because that is a virus unlike Ebola where people do touch surfaces and do touch areas where the virus has been and then touch their mouth, their nose, their eyes and can get an infection.

So simple hand washing, simple basic principles will make a difference, but it does -- the good news is there's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Typically these viruses are just more seasonal, they come and go.

COSTELLO: Let's hope it goes very soon. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "ANTHONY BOURDAIN PARTS UNKNOWN" is back this Sunday. His latest adventure takes him to a place you may think you know but in fabulous Bourdain form, he proves you probably don't -- the Bronx.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST "ANTHONY BOURDAIN PARTS UNKNOWN": For the most part the Bronx is overlooked -- the never-visited borough in New York City -- which is a shame because the Bronx is a magical place with its own energy, its own food, vibe and rhythm. You've been to Brooklyn. Maybe it's time you took a look at the Bronx.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Interesting. The Bronx is just one of the locations the show travels in Season Four -- Tanzania, Jamaica, even Iran on the itinerary.

Joining me now, host and executive producer of "PARTS UNKNOWN" -- Anthony Bourdain. Welcome.

BOURDAIN: Thank you. Good to be here.

COSTELLO: The Bronx, huh?

BOURDAIN: Unexplored territory largely -- shamefully so. I mean I knew so little about it and I can see it from my window. Why is that and what have I been missing? That was the question.

COSTELLO: I know people travel there for Yankees games and then they don't go back. BOURDAIN: Yes. And it is a wonderland -- a wonderland of food. And

it seems like a natural for foodies as well. So many ethic groups from all over the world who brought their food culture there and so much history. It's the birthplace of hip-hop and rap and the sound track to the whole world. Why don't we know more about it?

COSTELLO: That's pretty cool. What sets this season apart? You seem to come up with so many ideas. I keep thinking he has to run out at some point.

BOURDAIN: I think one of the joys of living in such a big wonderful planet is there's so much. I mean we could shoot -- I could shoot a show a week in China for the rest of my life and still die ignorant basically. The world is big.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about Iran. What was that like?

BOURDAIN: Well, it's an extraordinary experience if you -- we've been trying to go for many, many years and haven't been able to get in for one reason or another. The difference between Iran as a geopolitical entity, which is how we've always experienced it, very contentious -- understandably contentious relationship -- the Iran that we read about in the papers and see on the news. And then the Iran you experience just as an American walking down the street with a bunch of other Americans -- completely different situation. Very friendly, generous, incredibly generous, fantastic food, very young country, and a sense of yearning there that's very hard to describe.

I think people will be really excited, confused, upset -- a heartbreaking and heartbreakingly beautiful place.

COSTELLO: That makes me really want to watch that episode. There's so much turmoil in the world right now with ISIS and, of course, this Ebola scare. When you travel the world do you get a sense that the world is in chaos or do people just go on with their lives and we're just imaging that?

BOURDAIN: I think that the world -- I'm a cynical guy by nature. But over the last few years of traveling the world and seeing it the way I do, I've kind of (inaudible) it's mostly filed with good people trying to do the best they can under very difficult circumstances. I don't think the whole world is falling apart.

COSTELLO: Please say that again because it feels that way at times.

BOURDAIN: I just don't think that. There are many places in the world where things are ok until they're not. And they can go bad very, very quickly.

I think Libya is a really good example of a place where I experienced a lot of hope, met a lot of great people, where things have gone very, very badly. But it's a place about which I'm ultimately -- my experience having been there, it's not an abstract to me. I believe some day Libya will get their act together. I think that's true of places like Liberia and hopefully -- you know, some sooner than others. I don't -- I am generally hopeful. People fight to live every day in much of the world.

COSTELLO: I think you're right. In the end people are people and we all want the same thing, right?

BOURDAIN: I believe that.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for stopping by.

BOURDAIN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Very nice. Anthony Bourdain. Of course. you can see the all-new "ANTHONY BOURDAIN PARTS UNKNOWN" this Sunday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good or bad, you can always count on kids to give you the unfiltered truth. Now one mom is turning those innocent insults into comedy gold. Here is Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They say kids say the darndest things. And in little Sadie's case, sometimes the most insulting.

SADIE: Hey, mamma.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

SADIE: Are you going to make yourself pretty today or are you going to look like you always do.

MOOS: Mother and humorist Joanna Stein has a viral hit video on her hands.

SADIE: Your tummy looks like a bagel.

MOOS: Thanks to her daughter's unintended insults. Yes, they are truly things that Sadie said when she was 4.

JOANNA STEIN, HUMORIST: She has been dropping truth bombs out of her mouth. Most of those things are true. My tummy at times has looked like a bagel.

SAIDE: You have a lot of hairs on your face, is that a mustache or a beard.

MOOS (on camera): You probably reached for your tweezers.

STEIN: Yes, I did as a matter of fact.

SADIE: Clara and I were playing in your underpants and they fit both of us at the same time.

STEIN: I was not wearing them at the time, by the way. MOOS (voice over): Her daughter recreated these zingers in her current seven-year-old voice. Mom recorded the video called "Mom Head" on a GoPro camera attached to a special rig on her head.

SADIE: Can I have your iPad when you die?

MOOS: Most viewers find the insults hilarious, though some think Sadie needed more discipline. "You best believe my kid says any of these things, I won't be making a video of it because I'll be ripping them a new one."

Noted another poster, "Kids are like mean little drunks."

SADIE: Did you take a shower today because I don't think it worked.

MOOS: Joanna first compiled her daughter's insults in a chapter of a book entitled "How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane". The title was inspired by the time Joanna tried to stop Sadie her from crying by making puppets out of barf bags then stuck her hand in a bag only to discover that it had recently been used.

Now that Sadie is seven --

(on camera): -- the bottom line is she hasn't turned out to be some monster?

STEIN: No. She really is a lovely sweet kid.

MOOS (voice over): True, mom took a licking. By the time Sadie is a teenager and no longer speaking to her parents, Joanna will be longing for the good old days of insults.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

SADIE: Mommy, when we come home I'll tell you all the things you did wrong today.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Kids are like mean little drunks.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" after a break.

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