11th Child Dies In Virus Outbreak At New Jersey Health Center
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll is climbing in a virus outbreak at a pediatric center in New Jersey. Eleven children have now died from the adenovirus. It has made nearly three dozen other children sick. So what is this virus and what do parents need to know this morning? CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta with the very latest. What is this, Sanjay?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a virus that typically doesn't make people particularly sick but it can in certain cases, as we're learning. The first case was actually back in September -- September 26th, so we're nearly two months into this. As you mentioned, 11 children have died, 34 adults and other -- 34 children and other adults are also sick, and parents and family members are starting to really demand answers.</s>GUPTA (voice-over): This is Elizabeth Poulos' sweet 16 party inside the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in New Jersey. Elizabeth was born with a medical condition requiring her to fight for her life every single day. Breathing tubes, feeding tubes -- those were the norm. Elizabeth's mom, Kristine Deleg, says it all started on October second. Her daughter began running a fever and was taken to a nearby hospital for emergency care.</s>KRISTINE DELEG, MOTHER IN ELIZABETH POULOS: It was a virus they told me that she had. Adenovirus, they call it -- yes. I was like, wait, what is this? I never of this.</s>GUPTA: Elizabeth had always struggled with respiratory issues so adenovirus was one of the worst viruses she could have contracted.</s>DELEG: At that point, from what I understood, it could be days, it could be weeks or months. We didn't know how long she was going to have. Are you smiling?</s>GUPTA: Laboratory tests confirmed Elizabeth had adenovirus on October fifth, her mother said. State health officials said they weren't alerted until October ninth. And parents of other children in the facility said they weren't notified until about 10 days after that -- an apparent breakdown in communications which had never before been a problem for Kristine. Parents of other kids who got sick said they didn't know their children were at risk and couldn't take measures to protect them.</s>DR. SHEREEF ELNAHAL, COMMISSIONER, NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: The grief and hardship that families are experiencing right now is unthinkable.</s>GUPTA: At a press conference on Friday, New Jersey Health Commissioner, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, said the facility has until this Wednesday to isolate the infected patients.</s>ELNAHAL: Our ongoing analysis of the situation has revealed that the limitations of the facilities there and being able to do that has accounted for among the most major reasons for the outbreak being as severe as it has been and the outcomes we have seen.</s>GUPTA: Wanaque has denied multiple requests for an interview. For most people who contract adenovirus, the illness is mild. But for people with weakened immune systems or existing respiratory issues, like Elizabeth, they can be much worse. Elizabeth died. She was just 16 years old.</s>DELEG: Four fifty-seven a.m. on the morning of the 23rd I get the phone call. The words you never want to hear, I heard it. I miss her. I had her for 16 years and one month, exactly.</s>GUPTA (on camera): And now, Kristine says her focus has really been on the other families of the -- of the ill children inside this facility. The Department of Health and Infectious Disease specialists are on site. One of the tasks they've had is that simply separate the children and now those adults who are ill from those who are not because this is a contagious virus. So even to get to this point has taken nearly two months and I think that's why we're seeing so many cases.</s>CAMEROTA: So, Sanjay, is there any way to predict how long this outbreak could last?</s>GUPTA: The way to think about these types of outbreaks, whatever the pathogen -- adenovirus, Ebola, whatever it may be -- you look at how long -- the incubation period, which is how long somebody has before they get sick. You get exposed, you get sick -- what's the time in between? In this case, it can be up to 14 days and in this case, then you'd basically double it -- so, 28 days. So, 28 days after the last confirmed case is when you can say this is over. We just had cases last week, so this is going to be going on through the holidays as far as we can tell for sure.</s>CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, it's so scary. Well, Sanjay, thank you for alerting us to this.</s>GUPTA: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: John --</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The president says he is done with Robert Mueller's questions, but will his written answers be enough to satisfy looking into Russian interference in the elections? A member of the House Intelligence Committee joins us, next.