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Ebola-Stricken Dallas Nurse Identified; Interview with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings; Kim Jong-Un Resurfaces in New Photos

Aired October 14, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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


ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The heroes in this unprecedented Ebola outbreak are the doctors and nurses on the front line risking their lives to take care of Ebola patients. Now, we've learned that nurse Nina Pham who became infected, she's getting an experimental blood transfusion and she got it very quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): This morning, doctors in Dallas anxious to see if a blood transfusion may save the life of a critical care nurse, Nina Pham, the first person to contract Ebola within the U.S. She cared for the now-deceased Liberian, Thomas Duncan.

Pham received the donation from Ebola survivor, Dr. Kent Brantly on Monday. The hope, that his blood may provide key antibodies to fight the disease.

PHONG TRAN, FAMILY FRIEND: Everybody should ask God to help her to get over this, and I know in the long run, she will help a lot of people.

COHEN: The 26-year-old is one of around 70 hospital staffers who cared for Duncan according to the "Associated Press". The "A.P." reports they reached that number after being given Duncan's medical records by his family. The CDC says they're still working to compile a list of health care worker who came into contact with Duncan.

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: If this one individual was infected, and we don't know how, within the isolation unit, then it is possible that other individuals could have been infected as well.

COHEN: An official with direct knowledge of the investigation tells CNN that CDC detectives who interviewed the nurse several times believe there are, quote, "inconsistencies in the type of gear the nurse used and how she put it on and took it off."

But fellow nurses say Pham was always careful.

JENNIFER JOSEPH, FORMER FELLOW NURSE: Knowing Nina, she's one of the most meticulous, thorough, effective nurses. When she taught me infection control and hand hygiene and protocol I learned so much of that from her.

COHEN: State and federal health officials are unsure how Pham was infected, but they say it may be time to reexamine Ebola safety protocols.

FRIEDEN: We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control.

COHEN: Officials even considering moving patients to special containment hospitals, this as Ebola fear escalates amid international flights into the U.S.

Shortly after landing in Boston Monday, a hazmat team boarded an Emirates Airline flight from Dubai and removed five passengers presenting flu-like symptoms. After examination, officials determined none of the five met the criteria for Ebola and none of them came from West Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (on camera): Now, even seasoned health care workers usually have very little experience using this protective gear. So, even when they're meticulous and careful as Pham's friends said that she was, mistakes can still be made and that's why the CDC is here training the health care workers here at this hospital in Dallas -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, training is what all of the nurses and doctors have been asking for.

Elizabeth, thanks so much for that update.

Let's go over to Chris for more.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Alisyn, to be clear we're learning as we go, so let's continue the discussion with a man whose city at the center of Ebola in the you states, Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas.

And not only is your city at the center, Mr. Mayor, but you've put yourself there. You've been working tirelessly. You've been at the hospital, you want to own this situation and you're doing something very unusual, you're saying things went wrong here, learn from what happened so that it doesn't get repeated elsewhere.

What do you think went wrong?

MAYOR MIKE RAWLINGS, DALLAS, TEXAS: Well, every organization needs to learn day in and day out. When I look back at the beginning, I would have liked to have been 24 hours on the whole process earlier and we started to learn how to work well together at the county level, at the city level, the state level, with the CDC.

I think everybody's really understands their role in doing their job but I think in a professional way.

CUOMO: Now, when you're taking a look -- one of the curiosities, how did this young nurse get this? She's supposed to be conscientious about how she does things and she was wearing all the right things and supposedly followed protocol. Where do you think that mystery takes you? RAWLINGS: You know, believe it or not, in our modern world, we don't

know everything. This is a bit of a situation where you never know exactly -- and that's why the CDC is working around the clock as well. I know they've been in the hospital most of the evening and this morning to make sure that we're double and triple checked.

We're focused on the contacts of Mr. Duncan, monitoring those contacts to make sure they're healthy. They are up to this point. And then we want to communicate to the neighborhoods, we wanted to get Bentley, her dog out of there. We were able to do that last night.

Bentley is healthy and we're trying to make sure that we just stay in communication with each other.

CUOMO: So, two more than developments I want to highlight. One, the family and relatives of Mr. Duncan who obviously lost his battle, they are not only grieving, they're still quarantined. We believe in that apartment.

You're saying so far no, signs of the virus in any of them, true?

RAWLINGS: Exactly right. We check them twice a day and everybody's healthy.

CUOMO: OK, and the dog, a lot of people especially in this country care about their pet so much. The one in Spain, Excalibur, put down. We do know that the virus leaves the host in pets and you're saying that dog is now virus-free?

RAWLINGS: I'm not saying it's virus free. I'm saying it's isolated (ph), safe, being fed --

CUOMO: OK.

RAWLINGS: -- in a safe manner.

Look, Elizabeth was right about Nina. She is a hero and that dog was very important to her. We want to make sure that dog is healthy as can be at this point, and being taken care of, and so I'm pleased to report to her we sent her a video last night, and this morning, to show her those pictures, so hopefully that buoys her up.

CUOMO: It's nice gesture to be sure.

Now, as a leader of the community, it's a big metropolitan area you're dealing with in Dallas, how are you balancing telling so many of your citizens who are on edge -- don't worry, we're fine -- with the fact that there are guys in spacesuits all over the place and we keep learning more about what we don't know? How do you balance the two?

RAWLINGS: Well, first of all I don't say don't worry, OK? I think it's natural to be anxious. I think it's natural to worry.

The way we do it is with as much information as we can get as quickly as we can, when we heard about this at midnight on Sunday morning, we wanted it at daybreak when everybody woke up they had the information at their house, in the media, over the phones, so people knew what was going on. I think if you know what's going on, anxiety goes down because of the science says you can't get this, unless you come in contact with somebody that is symptomatic.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something, if you had a daughter and she is a nurse and she was going into work to do this, would you worried whether or not they're going to keep her safe?

RAWLINGS: Of course. You know, this is why it's -- they're heroes. This is why they're brave individuals. These doctors and nurses need to be lifted up in our prayers, our thoughts, and we need to applaud them right now, and that's why everybody's doing this. It's a natural situation.

When I met Mr. Duncan's family that he was living with, you know, there's anxiety, OK, is that all right? When you think about what the science says and if you take those precautions and understand the protocol outside, you're OK. They're learning and growing inside the health care facility, and we're just so sorry that Nina is in this situation.

CUOMO: Bottom line, you've gotten to see it, ground zero, up close and personal, how the fed is coordinating with the state, with the local, which is going to be a key part here. Do we have our act together yet? Are we really ready for this, if it starts hitting cities?

RAWLINGS: Well, I believe we have our act together here in Dallas. Day one, there was a lot of learning happening, and hopefully our learning can be codified, communicated so every city understands how they approach this, and we will be glad to do that.

CUOMO: Mayor Rawlings, thank you very much. We know you've been doing this and know it's been sleepless down there but it matters. So, thank you for --

RAWLINGS: Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Thank you for using us to get the message out and please stay in touch.

RAWLINGS: We will.

CUOMO: Thank you, sir.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris. Another top story, the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Kim Jong-Un may have been partially solved. North Korea's state media releasing what it says are new photos of the supreme leader, you can see them here on your screen. He has not been seen publicly for more than a month. Now these photos show Kim during two official visits and he is now using a cane.

CNN's Paula Hancocks following developments from Seoul.

What is the latest thinking, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, it's interesting about these photos. We don't have a date for these photos. North Korean media is saying, and certainly assuming they are recent, but we don't know for sure. We know we can see Kim Jong-Un doing what he does best, giving field guidance at a new housing complex surrounded by many of his officials taking notes. He is smiling, as you say, he has that cane, which would seem to prove that many analysts were correct, that they believe he would disappear for five weeks because of health issues.

But, of course, these photos have been playing a lot on North Korean television throughout the day, more than usual on the news bulletins, and it's not just for an international audience to show the world there is stability in North Korea, the regime probably also wants to tell its own people, tell the domestic audience their leader even if he's not in complete health at least is seemingly in complete control.

They want to bring stability back because the rumors and speculation that have been swirling around the world according to defectors with contacts still inside North Korea, even worse has been swirling around within the country itself, there were an awful lot of rumors that Kim Jong-Un had actually died.

So, the regime may well have felt pressured to bring Kim Jong-Un out and they want to show everybody he's back at work, everything is back to normal and there's been no comment whatsoever, no mention of the fact that he's been disappeared for the past five weeks.

(AUDIO GAP)

CAMEROTA: Show him smiling more than usual to say, look, everything's fine here.

Paula Hancocks, thanks so much for that report.

Let's over to Michael for what else we're talking about today.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, few things that we're watching. Here are your headlines right now.

We begin with the battle against ISIS. President Obama is meeting with his military demanders and defense chiefs from more than 20 other nations today to further organize and coordinate that fight. The terror group continues to push for control of Kobani, despite new coalition air strikes. ISIS also scored a victory in neighboring Iraq taking a strategically important military base in Anbar province.

Hong Kong police continue to dismantle barricades and encampments erected by pro-democracy demonstrators following two weeks of protests. The action is aimed at clearing one of the city's main thoroughfares, which has been closed to traffic. There's been no signs of the resistance of the democracy movement so far.

Russian hackers are exploiting a flaw in Microsoft Windows operating system to spy on NATO, Ukraine and other top security targets. Now, that's according to a report from the cyber security firm iSight Partners. The hackers reportedly are using a vulnerability known as zero day, which is present in every windows system except XP. The Russian hacking group is known as sandworm and it has been operating at least 2009, since at least 2009.

Got to show you this crazy video of Ohio trending. Check it out, a motocross biker completes a jump, slips on a patch of mud, goes barreling toward a guy and his cell phone who without a beat jumps over it, and watch, continues talking on his cell phone. You've got to be talking to your mama.

According to the poster on YouTube, it was at a grand nation cross- country event in St. Claire's, Ohio -- that was an important call, man.

CAMEROTA: It was. I want to be friends with that guy.

PEREIRA: Did he blow out his knee? That's the thing I'm worried about --

CUOMO: Big man low points for continuing the phone call but he did not stick the landing.

CAMEROTA: Tough judge.

CUOMO: A knee touched down.

PEREIRA: Says the guy later this hour (INAUDIBLE) climbing on his shoulders.

CUOMO: I checked my form when I'm on the pole so to speak.

PEREIRA: Alisyn, aren't you glad --

CAMEROTA: That I'm here? Not at the moment.

PEREIRA: Manlove.

CUOMO: #manlove.

CAMEROTA: We will look forward to watching Chris' form.

Meanwhile, health care workers in the U.S. are scrambling to keep you safe, of course, from Ebola but also trying to make sure they don't contract the deadly disease. We'll talk with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about how well the protective suits they are supposed to wear work. He will give us a demonstration and we'll hear from a nurse who is on the front lines in Nebraska.

CUOMO: And as we've been saying this morning we'll take a trip to Italy, you get to see mow there with my wife and daughter and I don't know who that is -- no, he's the mayor of a local town. We're going to see beautiful coasts, isolated Italian villages and one crazy rarely seen tradition that has something to do with my family that you won't forget. I know I won't.

We're going to learn things on our CNN roots journey. It's a good tell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Treating Ebola can be extremely dangerous for health care workers. The Dallas nurse who contracted the disease after being in contact with an infected patient says she was wearing protective gear and she follows protocol.

So, what can hospitals that are no equipped for this level of crisis do if face with Ebola?

Let's bring in CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Shelley Schwedhelm. She is nursing director of the bio containment at Nebraska Medical Center and she is personally treated two Ebola patients.

Great to see both of you this morning.

Shelley, I want to start with you, because I know that nurses and health care workers around the country are nervous, in fact, the vice president of the nurses union expressed the frustration with how ill- prepared some nurses feel if they had to confront Ebola. Listen to what she had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZENEI CORTEZ, REGISTERED NURSE & V.P., NATL. NURSES UNITED: We do not have the proper protected equipment and also the information or the knowledge or the education or the training, then it's really a disaster waiting to happen and when do we want to do the training? We want to do it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Shelley, she says it's a disaster waiting to happen. You have treated two Ebola patients. How confident do you feel?

SHELLY SCHWEDHELM, DIR., EMERGENCY, TRAUMA & PREPAREDNESS SERVICES, THE NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: I feel very confident in our unit and in our team and our staff. I think we have all the protocols that we need and the training that we need to safely care for a patient with Ebola. I understand what her concerns are, but I also think that now is the time that nurses need to step up and take action on learning and training and putting procedures in place to safely care for patients.

CAMEROTA: And, of course, you specialize in this sort of bio containment at the Nebraska Medical Center but not all hospitals do. Is it your sense that they are now getting the proper training? Because we've heard there's been inconsistencies in training for nurses.

SCHWEDHELM: I'm sure there are inconsistencies and I think the goal would be to quickly get out the proper information and the proper procedures to those who are on the front lines. I think that's essential, and we have been doing as much as we can to try to quickly share our learning and to get our information and education out to others.

CAMEROTA: That would be so helpful.

Sanjay, the nurse who contracted Ebola in Dallas says she followed proper protocol. Can you show us what the protective gear and proper protocol looks like?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so even if you follow that exact protocol and we followed it to a T in terms of what the CDC guidelines are, and let me give you an idea of what exactly that looks like and what may have happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: So I want to give you an idea of what the CDC is recommending in terms of how to protect yourself with this personal protective gear. I'm also going to show you how to take it off which some say is the most dangerous part. I will point out as we start to do this, I work in an operating room every week. This is different than what most doctors I think are used to, at least in the operating room.

I do want to point out this a little different than how I suited when I was in Guinea but we're following CDC protocol. I want to show you how I'll take this protective equipment off and I'm also going to put chocolate sauce in my hand which could represent a possible Ebola contamination. Take a look.

This is the mask, so here would be the most likely contaminated area, my gloves, maybe the front of my gown a bit like this. Now I got to treat this as if I'm potentially contaminated. I come out, what I'll do with this gown, rip it off together, and everything's going to come off simultaneously. Part of the glove brushed against my hand, my arm there, that could potentially be an exposure.

If the glove didn't come off properly, I would reach underneath here as best I could and get underneath there. But perhaps if I didn't do it exactly right, there could be another potential exposure there. I'm reaching behind as well as I can but let's say the side of my face shield was contaminated and I touched here, that could be an exposure.

Same thing here now with the face mask. Now take a look. Right there, see a little bit of chocolate sauce, one possible exposure and over here on my neck, one possible exposure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, that was fascinating. Thanks so much for that demonstration. So you determined that there were, what, two, three, four possible exposures, even with all the protective gear?

GUPTA: Yes, and just relatively small steps that people might not think about, again you have to assume that the front of your gown, your gloves are the contaminated area, and then you reach behind to take things off. What if you don't reach behind far enough and touch something? It was interesting.

But I think to your point, Alisyn, earlier, we know how this virus transmits, bodily fluid infected gets on somebody's skin, that's how you could potentially get an infection. What surprised me about the CDC guidelines, unlike in West Africa, when we're over there, all of your skin is not covered with this guideline and that seems like a basic thing.

CAMEROTA: Shelly, I know you're outside, you weren't able to watch Sanjay's demonstration for us just there, but you do this all the time. What about that? What about when taking off the gloves, when taking off the protective eye gear, if a little bit of the contamination touches someone's skin?

SCHWEDHELM: Sure. I think you're right, I wasn't able to see what he was doing but I heard a couple of things. One was that not all of the skin is covered and in our case, with our personal protective equipment we use, we do have every part of the body covered with protective gear.

I think the other thing perhaps from our perspective that adds a dimension of safety is that we have someone accountable to really helping you remove your PPE in the proper order, the proper steps, really guiding you through every step of that process, and watching you physically do that. So that's an additional measure of safety we've put in place here.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, was all of your skin covered or no?

GUPTA: No, and I want to point out we followed the CDC guidelines, what you're hearing described by Shelly there I think very important and very good is again that idea of covering all of your skin like the Doctors Without Borders for example do in West Africa.

I'm surprised and I imagine Shelly would be surprised as well that the CDC guidelines and we followed them to a T, but they didn't require that. There were parts of my neck that were still showing, for example, I didn't have any hair, hat protection to cover my head, so those types of things -- again, just surprised by, given the fact in West Africa, Doctors Without Borders have been doing this for decades and this time the first case of a patient transmitting a virus to a health care worker. The first patient in the United States transmitted the virus to a health care worker. There's got to be better protocols obviously in these places.

CAMEROTA: Shelly, your hospital goes beyond it sounds like the CDC protocols.

SCHWEDHELM: We go beyond a little bit. And I also think we have to remember, too, it's based upon the situation with your patient, too, if you have a lot of secretions and a lot of concern that there's not a lot of controls in place, then you're obviously going to want to take additional measures and steps to protect yourself. It just really depends.

But I support the CDC recommendations, but I do also agree that we need to add that additional step of protecting your entire body with that.

CAMEROTA: It sure sounds like it.

Last, Shelly, I know you are treating the NBC freelance cameraman at your medical center. Can you tell us anything about how Mr. Mukpo is doing this morning?

SCHWEDHELM: Mr. Mukpo has been making good progress. He is eating and drinking and doing well with his nutritional intake. So, we feel like he's making just great progress.

CAMEROTA: We understand he's feeling well enough that he tweeted out that he is, quote, "On the road to good health." So that sounds like a very good sign.

Shelly Schwedhelm, and, Sanjay, thanks so much, a really informative segment, thank you.

SCHWEDHELM: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.

We got to tell you about the fireworks during the all-important debate in the Kentucky Senate race. Mitch McConnell blasting his rival for refusing to say if she voted for President Obama. Now, Grimes says her vote privacy is protected by the Constitution. Is this about the law?

Plus, I thought I knew everything about my roots and as often happens, I was wrong. I took a trip to Italy to unravel a mystery that no one in my family knows about, and you are invited. So, stay put for the roots, coming up.

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