U.S. Helicopter Goes Down in Afghanistan
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.</s>MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano, in for Don Lemon. He's on assignment. Well, a stunning twist in an already riveting story -- an Atlanta man somehow develops a severe strain of tuberculosis.</s>PHILLIPS: Now it's revealed that Andrew Speaker's father-in-law is a microbiologist at the CDC, and he does research on T.B. What's next? You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Medical alert nationwide, worldwide, and developments in the story by the hour. Now this is what we know about the man infected with a nasty form of tuberculosis, exposed dozens, maybe hundreds of people, to the disease. He's been identified. He's 31-year-old Andrew Speaker of Atlanta. And here's the other development this hour. Speaker's father-in-law works at the CDC. This is what we know. Bob Cooksey actually does research on tuberculosis. When he found out that his son-in-law had T.B. -- or his son-in-law, rather -- he gave some fatherly advice. He also advised his daughter, who had just married Speaker, not to travel. We're working to try and talk to him, of course, and get more information on that background. Meanwhile, today, Andrew Speaker arrived at a specialty hospital in Denver. That's where our Ed Lavandera is to bring us up to date -- Ed.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, Andrew Speaker arrived here shortly before 8:00 this morning, Mountain time. He walked in, we're told, and said he was feeling fine. And that connection to the CDC, we have asked several hospital officials here about that. They didn't know anything about that at this point. However, there is a press conference that will start here in about a half-hour with the doctors and the physicians that are treating Andrew Speaker. We suspect that that issue will come up, as well -- of course, all of this part of the history and the baseline assessment that physicians here are undergoing, or -- and will be continue -- will be continuing throughout the day just trying to get that initial assessment of Andrew Speaker's condition. As he said, he was feeling fine. But doctors are testing his heart, kidney, liver, all sorts of exams. In fact, he's being kept in an isolated room in -- in this hospital that you see behind me, where he will be for -- for weeks, if not months, as they continue to try to figure out some sort of treatment that will cure this form of tuberculosis -- tuberculosis that Andrew Speaker has. The room that he's in is an isolated room that has a special air- filtration system. And, then, it uses ultraviolet light to kill the infection that might be floating around in the room. Any of the doctors and physicians that come into contact with him have to wear a specialized mask. And he will only be allowed out of that room once today. And that is on his way to take a C.T. scan and part of a -- a lung X-ray as well -- so, a long list and battery of tests that Andrew Speaker will be going -- going through today, as doctors here begin the process of trying to figure out how to best treat him -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Ed, and you know the latest development, with finding out that his father-in-law works at the CDC, actually is a researcher on tuberculosis. I know that you have had to do a lot of live shots in your working this story, but is anybody talking about that? Do we know if there's any type of connection to his father-in-law, possibly how he got infected, anything that you have been able to get from this new piece of news?</s>LAVANDERA: Since we have found out about that piece of news, we have only been able to ask the CEO of the hospital here. He said he was unaware of any -- of that kind of connection. Of course, one of the -- the physicians that have been treating him, we haven't been able to speak with just yet. There will be, as I mentioned, a press conference here in about a half-hour, where those doctors will be out, addressing some of the questions. So, we anticipate that that will be brought up then. However, one of the things that doctors are doing with Andrew Speaker today is a long list of questions and interviews, trying to figure out where he might have contracted this disease. That kind of questioning and that kind of information might come up. It's not something that we know for sure has come up at this point. But that might be the kind of thing that doctors speak with Andrew Speaker about at some point when they -- when they question him today.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, I know you will be able to ask those questions. Ed Lavandera, live from Denver, appreciate it.</s>MARCIANO: Elizabeth Cohen back from Grady Hospital right here in Atlanta, where Mr. Speaker was staying. What can you tell us about the place?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I wasn't just at Grady, where he was staying. I was actually in his room. I was in the very room where Andrew Speaker got treatment at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. It's the room that he left -- you are seeing it right here, right now -- about 11 hours ago. So, this is the room where he stayed. That's the chief of epidemiologist there, showing me the room. It looks like just any other hospital room. What you can't see -- see right there? I am pointing to a vent. Air in this room gets sucked into that vent. It creates a vacuum, room 12-B50 -- you see it right there -- so that any tuberculosis bacteria that are hanging out in that room, they get sucked into that vent. There's a HEPA filter, which filters out the tuberculosis bacteria. And then it's pumped out the roof and into the atmosphere, so that none of that air is going back into the hospital. But this is the room where he stays. It looks pretty much like any other isolation room in any hospital in any country where they treat tuberculosis patients.</s>MARCIANO: So, there was no danger of you being in the room?</s>COHEN: Oh, No. No. He was gone, was out. The room was empty. You don't even have to wear a mask if there's not a patient. Now, if a patient had been in there, we would all be wearing masks that were -- that were fitted to our faces. And -- but, without a patient, there's no risk.</s>MARCIANO: Fascinating stuff. A room just like that is where he's staying in Denver, I assume. What kind of treatment should we expect for him to get over there?</s>COHEN: Well, what -- what they are saying in Denver, the doctors there, is that, first, they're going to treat him with some very powerful antibiotics. Now, this man has -- his disease has proved to be resistant to at least five different antibiotics. So, what they do now is, they use ones they hardly ever use. And the reason why is that they can cause kidney and liver damage. So, these are really used in very unusual circumstances. Now, the doctors at National Jewish in Denver have said that they really anticipate that they're going to have to do surgery on him at some point. And what that means, Rob, is that they go in, and they actually remove a section of the lung that's infected. And they don't do this at just any hospital. This is very unusual surgery. They have never done it...</s>MARCIANO: Wow.</s>COHEN: ... at this hospital on someone with extensively-drug- resistant tuberculosis. So, for them, it will be a first, and probably one of the first, if not the first, in the country.</s>MARCIANO: It doesn't sound good. You know, we have talked so much about the ethics of this, what happened to other patients. But, in the end, things don't look good for Andrew Speaker.</s>COHEN: Well, it depends how you look at it. I mean, certainly, this disease has a very high mortality rate. In fact, less than 30 percent of the people who get this disease can be treated for it. But he is really in the best situation for someone who has extensively-drug-resistant tuberculosis. The reason is, is that it appears to have been caught at a very early stage. The CDC has been very clear that, when they looked at the amount of bacteria in his spit, that it was very, very, very low levels. They don't consider him to be extremely infectious. So, he's there. He's getting the Cadillac of care, it appears. And, so, now that they have caught it early, that can make a difference. When you start treating tuberculosis is extremely important. It makes all the difference.</s>MARCIANO: All right. Well, that is a bit of optimism. And we certainly hope he pulls through. You have got an exclusive report tonight on "PAULA ZAHN." Want to talk about that. Tune in tonight. We're going to go into -- or Elizabeth has -- she has gone into Andrew Speaker's isolation room. And we will bring you that exclusive report tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." That's actually at 8:00 Eastern. Tune in then.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, Andrew Speaker flew from Atlanta to Europe. He took four shorter flights there, before flying back to North America. Health officials are still trying to track down some of his fellow passengers. And those who have been found are being examined.</s>BETH HAWKINS, SHARED FLIGHT WITH TUBERCULOSIS PATIENT: We have all either have already gotten tested or made arrangements to go get tested some time today, because our main concern was, if any of us picked it up, we could have potentially given it to each other, because we lived with each other for two weeks after that, and we are sharing food and sharing drinks. So, we're just worried about passing it along.</s>MARK HILL, SHARED FLIGHT WITH TUBERCULOSIS PATIENT: I think that he, you know, owes an apology to -- to close to 400 people that possibly he -- he could have infected. And, you know, I -- I think he was -- he was certainly torn, but there are different stories about what he was told and what he says he was told. So, at the end of the day, I think that he owes quite a few people an apology.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, doctors are most concerned about passengers on the transatlantic flights. They say that passengers on the shorter flights in Europe are not believed to be as much at risk.</s>MARCIANO: A U.S. Chinook is down. NATO forces racing to the rescue come under attack. It's been a deadly 24 hours in southern Afghanistan. With the latest now, our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. Army CH-47 helicopter went down in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province, where NATO and U.S. troops have been battling Taliban fighters for weeks in the rugged terrain. Initial reports indicate the transport helicopter, similar to this one, was brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade. The entire five-man crew was killed, as well as two other military passengers. The helicopter had just dropped off other U.S. Army troops on the ground. According to a NATO statement, another unit responded to the scene of the crash, but was ambushed by enemy fighters. An airstrike was then called in to stop the attackers. Chinook helicopters are the Army's workhorse, used daily to ferry equipment and troops. Helicopters flying in Afghanistan are particularly vulnerable when they travel through steep mountain passes or when they operate low to the ground in open areas. (on camera): The insurgent tactic of attacking rescuers to a crash site has already been seen in Iraq. Now it's appearing in Afghanistan, and U.S. military officials say they are very concerned. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.</s>PHILLIPS: And, of course, this story just continues to get more and more interesting. And we're talking about Andrew Speaker, the 31-year-old lawyer here from Georgia, the man that has tuberculosis, the man that flew on those transatlantic flights, and now has created quite a stir across the United States and across Europe, as well, about if he could possibly have infected somebody with this dangerous, sometimes fatal, strain of tuberculosis, one that he carries and one he's being treated for in a Denver hospital. We had told you the latest twist to this. And that is, his father-in-law is a research microbiologist in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the CDC right here in Atlanta, Georgia. Bob Cooksey is his father-in-law. And we have been trying to understand if there was any way that there was a connection between how his new son-in-law got T.B. and the fact that Mr. Cooksey works at the CDC, and works specifically on T.B., and is a -- research in that particular area. We just got a statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is from Bob Cooksey. He wrote this statement. And this is what he says, as he explains his position as someone who works on T.B. at the CDC. He says: "As part of my job, I am regularly tested for T.B. I do not have T.B., or have I ever had T.B. My son-in-law's T.B. did not originate from myself or the CDC's labs, which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity." Mr. Cooksey goes on to say: "I wasn't involved in any decisions my son-in-law made regarding his travel, nor did I ever act as a CDC official or in an official CDC capacity with respect to any of the events of the past weeks." He says: "As a parent, a frequent traveler, and biologist, I well appreciate the potential harm that can be caused by diseases like T.B. I would never knowingly put my daughter, friends, or anyone else at risk from such a disease." Finally, Mr. Cooksey says in his statement: "I would ask the media to respect my privacy and that of my family. And I will be respectfully declining all media requests. My thoughts and focus over the next few months will be with my family. And we are hopeful that Andrew will have a fast and successful recovery" -- that coming from Bob Cooksey, the father-in-law of Andrew Speaker, the man infected with tuberculosis. We are waiting for a live news conference from that Denver hospital where Andrew Speaker is being treated. We will bring that to you live as soon as it happens.</s>MARCIANO: News and information as it happens here in the CNN NEWSROOM brought to you -- we're covering all aspects of this story, including -- I mean, what's more important, doctor-patient confidentiality or public safety? That's just one of the many hard questions raised by this T.B. case. We will ask a medical ethicist for answers next.</s>PHILLIPS: Twenty-eight students killed in a single school year, but, unless you live in Chicago, you probably haven't heard a word about it -- David Mattingly with the disturbing report -- straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.