they're down. david: we'll take the announcement 5:30 on fbn. lab reports are not in yet. we hope to get information in. >> stay tuned to fox business. gerri: we start the show tonight with disturbing news. the centers for disease control is reporting the first american case of ebola. the patient is in a dallas hospital. we will have the very latest on this, in a few minutes from atlanta, again, the first case of ebola reported in the u.s., out of dallas. we'll have all of the details we can get you in just a few minutes from the cdc in atlanta. stay with us on that. meantime, what about big drug companies, paying off your doctor? what is going on there? well americans will now have access to a federal database making it easier for patients to find out about ties between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry. how ready was the federal government for this launch and how easy is the website to

navigate? we'll talk about all of that. joining me, paul howard, scholar at man hat the hat tan institute. this is exposing a dirty little secret in the medical industry. tell us about that secret. >> this is a open secret because in order to tell doctors about new products they have to get in to see them. only time they can see the doctor is during lunch when they don't have patients. they buy them pizza and give them samples. gerri: we're not talking about pizza here, right. >> we're talking about everything. some doctors opinion leaders in the industry, they are paid consulting fees to talk about new products, go on lectures to do those kind of things. they get a lot of payments for that. a small number of doctors get very significant number of payments. vast majority of doctors might get reprint or a piece of pizza. >> those payments were north of $24 billion. so it ain't nothing. it is pretty thorough going.

if you look at the number of drug companies offering this, pfizer, astrazeneca, johnson & johnson, glaxosmithkline, merck. the worry here, paul, i think you understand this as well as anybody if a drug company is paying an individual physician money, they're going to push their drug. >> right. the thing to understand is, a lot of these payments can be misread, i'm paying for clinical trial if the doctor's name goes there. all that money isn't going to them. it is going to support the clinical trial. there is real concern if the person has financial interest in drug company or device company, they own stock, that is a big problem. always ask your doctor, why am i getting this treatment? what are the risk and benefits for me as individual and really trying to informed consumer to avoid any of these concerns. gerri: so the cms is launching a website, this is the good news that will allow to you check out your own doctor and find out if in fact they're taking paints from pharmaceutical companies. how well is this going to go in. >> it will be healthcare.gov?

i was on the website earlier today. i was spoking around on it. it doesn't seem that hard to navigate. gerri: oh, come on. you got to be kidding me! so we went on this afternoon. i went on with a producer. maybe it is just, i'm just a regular person, trying to find out the information the government has promised me. they will expose my doctor for taking payments. i want to see. that i was looking everywhere for a place to plug your name in. you can't. it is databases. the whole website is designed to help the industry, not individuals. if there consumer page on that website i could not find it. i want to tell you what they told our producer who called the help desk, the help desk for this website. she said, i'm new to this and i don't understand it. can you help me. and help desk guy, said i'm new to this. i'm not sure i understand it either. we never got any training. we learned we were going to be helping on this today. it was supposed to be another group of people. okay, to me, that feels like healthcare.gov all over again.

>> i guess, this is just standard. standard operating procedure for the government right now. look, i think people who are familiar with databases, i went on there, playing around wit, saw names. but for average consumer this will be more confusion. information is not presented in context. see a number next to the doctor, can you understand what that means, what impact it might have on treatment? you could say i'm a cancer patient. i want my physician to work with the industry and know what all the latest treatments are. >> i got to tell you. i'm astonished, here again another promise from the administration that they will put a website out there that helps us. i will be darned if i figure out how the stupid thing works. >> they are only working on four years. it is actually part of obamacare. gerri: it absolutely is. paul, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. gerri: from turmoil and obamacare to turmoil in the mutual fund industry. the fallout from pimco cofounder bill gross's departure, it is only growing. fund research firm "morningstar" is stripping pimco's total

return bond fund of its gold rating of the turmoil might bleed into other markets. "the wall street journal" is reporting that federal regulators are worried pimco's money drain might cause broader instability in the markets. here to weigh in, michael herbs of "morningstar" and jim of retirement resource who is is advising his clients to ditch pimco's total return fund. welcome to you both. great to have you here. we appreciate you being on the show. i will start with michael. you downgraded the fund. now, keep in mind, this is the world's biggest bond fund. very important to many, many people. why did you do it? >> essentially the brown's rating that we've assigned to the fund reflects our confidence in the managers that stepped into bill gross's role. scott mather and mark kiesel are investors in their own right and investors we have known a great deal for last 10 years.

why the downgrade you ask? essentially uncertainty around the fund from here. everybody is obviously watching the flow situation. another aspect that we're watching closely how well these individual work together in their new roles. and third level, that decreases our confidence in the overall offering for investors is actually on the fund, the fund board side where we've seen multiple independent trustees fall off two critical fund boards for pimco fund. gerri: all interesting stuff. we all had our ice on the redemptions. "wall street journal" reporting that some 10 billion has been yanked from pimco. other is are saying it could be hundreds of billions come next. jim, to you, you're advising your clients to leave pimco total return. why? and has pimco tried to convince you otherwise? >> yes, gerri. we're moving out of this fund because of we're in a somewhat unique position maybe compared with individual investors.

we oversee something on the order of $600 million of people's life savings, that is thousands of individuals in 401(k) plans that we advise. so that we see the world through a little bit more of a conservative lens. we have to make prudent decisions and, some of the factors that michael just mentioned, a whole series of events over the last year, has impinged upon our confidence and in overall tipped the balance to the point where we believe that those individual might be better served by a different fund with perhaps some more conservative mandate and more consistent management. gerri: lots of changes at pimco as we've seen. not only did michael gross leave or bill gross leave, other people are taking top positions there including one who won "morningstar"'s bond fund manager of the year. so back to you, michael. one of my big concerns, and you

mentioned it as a big reason for your downgrade, this idea of redemptions. and my question is, how does that reverberate back to individual investors? if i'm holding this fund, pimco total return fund, how do i get hurt by institutional investors and others dumping the fund? >> i'd like to start by saying that in our analysis the fund is actually very well-situated to weather outflows in the near term. there are many sources of liquidity in the portfolio that would help the managers adjust. where the risks to investors come in if we see outflows either pick up or continue for a long period of time. in theory that could make it more difficult for the portfolio managers to execute their strategies. that would be run risk to investors in the fund. a second potential risk to investors in the fund, and this is a lot more difficult to handicap, is anecdotally, we've gotten evidence that there are other parties on wall street that are taking positions on the other side of positions held by

pimco total return. in theory this could affect the pricing of some of the securities that pimco holds in theory it could force pimco to sell securities at prices lower than it would like to. i say on the second count, that second situation is much more difficult situation to handicap at this point. those are two areas we'll watch very closely going forward. gerri: i want to mention a couple of numbers here to put this all in context because there are a lot of worries about this fund having to make investors whole who decide to leave and redeem their fund. the trading, in bonds, $500 billion a day, in the corporate bond market. $100 billion a day. these are big markets. they are liquid markets. they can withstand a lot. i think there's, a lot of misinformation out there and i worry that people don't really understand the size of these markets we're talking about. jim, before you go, well you revisit this decision anytime

soon? >> well, probably no time soon because the new management team is very talented and we're optimistic that they will do a good job but we would need a fairly lengthy period of actual results before we would consider putting money back in. >> okay. jim and michael, thank you so much for being on the show tonight. we'll continue to follow this story for some time i think. it will be going on for a while. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and still ahead we'll have more on the breaking news we told you about the at top of the hour. the very first case of ebola in the united states. that patient at dallas hospital. you're looking at dallas right there. that is a live shot of the hospital. we'll go live to atlanta for a news conference from centers for disease control. stay with fbn for that. next my one-on-one interview with the experion ceo and recent data breaches and what consumers

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conference from the centers for disease control in atlanta and we're being told that the first american case of ebola has been diagnosed. we cover all the angles with fox news team doctor, david samadi. you heard the news. first case of ebola, diagnosed in the usa, actually in dallas. what do you have to say to that? what is your reaction? >> i think it is concerning but not a huge surprise. we actually have spoken about this. the numbers are slowly on the rise in africa. what is going on in, take as few days for the symptoms to kick in after you're contaminated about i ebola virus. so if you're a passenger contaminated in nigeria and one of those areas and get on a plane to come to the u.s., it could certainly bring this virus over here and, we're probably will see a few more of these cases in the u.s. what i want people to know is, you know, in the health care system in this country, we're able to isolate patients. that is the key word. by isolating the patients, you

can control the disease and there is no need to really panic. this is not an airborne disease. you don't transmit it through cough or sneezing. it is through fluids, so the considers are more than able taking care of this patient and we'll be in control. gerri: we're going to be in control. i hope you will be right on that. people are very concerned about this you said something interesting. it take as while for this disease to incubate and if you're coming from africa where you're exposed you might get on the plane and never know. in the web reporting on this receipt now from tv affiliates in texas we're hearing that is exactly what happened. that this person was in africa, came back to the u.s. and then was diagnosed. does there need to be some kind of a protocal, some kind of a change for people who are traveling in that direction? >> the protocol that has come down the pipeline from cdc and who is that the emergency room and the hospitals need to look for these kinds of signs and symptoms of the we need to

basically be aware, anybody could be exposed to this. look for those symptoms. if you see any sign of it, to isolate those patients until at least three weeks when we would be in the free zone. the issue is that, you know, the head of cdc announced that there could be up to 1.4 million of these patients in africa. we spoke about it this sunday. i think those numbers are a little bit exaggerated and out of control. think we're going to see right now about 8,000 cases that have been diagnosed. 3,000 patients have died from this. we're going to see somewhere in the range of 20 to 24,000, 25,000 in the next few months. so i'm kind of obviously concerned about this that we have it in the u.s. but not to panic and hospitals are more than capable of doing this. unfortunately because the global travel, we're all become one big pietri dish if you can call it and we're all exposed to this. should there be more testing

down in africa before they let people go? i don't think we have enough resources to do this on a good note, let me say, receipt now there is about a billion dollar investment from u.s. directly over there. we're releasing about 3,000 troops and there are also about 20 centers, ebola treatment centers will go up. that is part of the way to control the disease there so we can protect our people here in the u.s. gerri: dr. samadi, thanks for your team tonight. >> thank you very much. gerri: now we'll be covering a live press conference at 5:30 with the cdc where they will have more details. this is only minutes away now. so stay tuned because we will have that press conference live just minutes away. meantime, the grocery chain supervalu says it beefed up security at its stores after malware was discovered at checkout computers. the breach affected albertson's customers. just in the latest of a series

of cases where retailers were hack and information stolen. biggest being home depot and target. i spoke with greg bound di, the ceo of the biggest credit reporting bureaus,. >> peer i don't know are about. experion and the growing problem and how you can protect yourself. on "the willis report" we've been covering high speed computers that crunch terabytes of data looking what is really going on. craig, you say there is big promise to consume that's will improve their lives. how. >> gerri, thanks very much for having me today and great to get a chance to talk about this topic. big data will make an enormous difference to everybody's lives. let me give you couple easy examples n johns hopkins university hospital they're studying cancer treatment to improve effectiveness of on new patients if i talk about my own business, experion we're working to help millions of people in the u.s. who live cash only world, getting access to credit. that is

people here in the u.s. gerri: but the big question for at love consumers out there, how you build credit and of course companies like yours are very important to that effort. but across the board, whether you're talking about your business or other big data companies, i think accuracy is really important and what we see over and over again, with credit reporting is that accuracy, i don't know if you say it is not a priority but there are issues, there are problems. for example, as you well know, the federal trade commission just a year ago said that one in five consumers have errors on at least one of their three credit scores, credit reports that is. and 5% have errors that means it will cost them more to borrow money. maybe they won't get that loan. so, yes, your efforts to help folks who are renting understood but so many people have frustrations with the accuracy of the reports. what do you say to that? >> it is really important we start with getting to the bottom of the facts. what the ftc report actually says that 98% of the credit

reports are materially accurate. that means only -- gerri: i'm reading directly from their results. these are not fabricated numbers. >> i wasn't saying there was fabricated numbers. i say you have to get underneath what the analysis is telling you. telling thaw 98% of credit reports are materially accurate. only 2% have problem with them. now that not good enough. we continue to invest in the organization to improve that but 9% of credit reports are materially accurate. gerri: an example of the broader population, i pulled all three of my credit reports last night. all three had mistakes. some didn't matter probably ultimately but some did much so i'm in that category of people, am i a part of the 2%? are you telling me that i am not the 98% of people out there? >> well it is great that you raised that point because it allow me to talk about what i hope people can do to try to improve the accuracy of ongoing credit reports. you can go online once a year and check your credit report for free. you can check to make sure the information held there is accurate about you.

gerri: how do you handle privacy issue? a lot of people are concerned, worried about all of this collection of this data. we had a breach of 65 million americans with their credit just this year. by that i mean, credit cards, not credit reports. so, it seems to me there is a piling on of concern about privacy in this country. what do you say to that? >> i say it is really important for all of us in this country take active steps to make sure we're securing our digital identities. we do do things in our lives online. we buy things online. we go to shops. people steal our information on line. there are steps we can take, i will give you two easy ones today, that will improve the safety of identities. change your passwords regularly. sound trite and easy thing to say. it makes a difference. use monitoring of your credit report to find out when things are happening to your online profile or your credit profile to make sure that they really are true. and if you need to, you're able to take action to resolve the issues. gerri: of course with these large breaches the benefit would

have been in all if all three credit reporting agencies made those reports available for free. right now only get it free once a year. but breaches happened over and over again. target, home depot. is the company willing at this point to say, you know when there are millions and millions of people in america having breaches we'll put them out there? you get a look at this. >> what we do do offer already the ability to see your credit report for free. much more importantly we provide services of credit monitoring. people don't want to look at individual report. what they want to be able to do is be alerted when something happens. that is service we do offer to people out there. >> for a fee. >> for a fee, absolutely because it operates money to operate the service and it is important service that can really help protect people's identities. >> thanks for talking to me today. >> thanks very much. gerri: i wasn't kidding when i said i pulled all three of my credit reports last night and read them. i did. what i saw, lots of mistakes. some were small. wrong address. others were more serious.

one report tripled my mortgage debt. the truth is, the accuracy of your credit report is more important to you, than it toys the companies producing them. you can check them for free once a year. go to annual credit report.com. annual credit report.com. not the website with the mall adjusted musicians or any other lame websites that try to charge you money. it matters you may be denied a loan or pay a hefty interest rate if your credit score is too high. coming up we'll have continued coverage of breaking news story i told you at the top of the show. the first american case of ebola has been diagnosed. you're looking at live pictures of a dallas hospital where this case is unfolding. we will go to a news conference at cdc for details. stay with us. niels. look at this. what's this? clicks are off the charts. yeah. yoshi, we're back.

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sixth -- but here is the point, in the united states of america we have the ability to isolate patients with a one incredibly effectively. even though everyone watching the show is were read and fearful, i will predict that this is not going to spark an outbreak because of our ability to contain an outbreak like this, which is not easy to transmit. gerri: you are looking at pictures of texas health presbyterian hospital in dallas where this case of the first known american patient who has contracted ebola has been diagnosed. moments from now we will be hearing from the cdc. they will give us more details on this. i will be right back with you with more questions. i want to turn now to you, rick. the way this disease is coming to this country. i know that you are a travel expert.

you spend a lot of time thinking about the airline's. what needs to happen here? what kind of precautions, if any, are u.s. airlines taking? is it enough for u.s. airlines to do something? >> yes, i mean, at the moment the u.s. airlines typically do not -- in fact, they do not fly into very often -- there are a few flights into a couple different cities. mostly they are relying upon their partners, they're flying partners, including british airways in a variety of other ones that you're with american airlines. but delta it would be several different partners and united different partners foppery they're depending upon those airlines to that those passengers. of the most people realize, but if you actually looking before you get on your flight, especially international, they will put you out and say you cannot travel. as the doctor said before, sometimes it is hard to tell if somebody is ill. certainly not every flight attendant is trained as a medical person. gerri: absolutely not. i am sure you say that that is not a big enough

precautions. what needs to happen in this country to keep folks safe? you say that we can isolate these patients. this individual case where we are talking about in dallas does not pose a threat to the general population, but are there other precautions that need to be taken? >> it becomes like a detective story. one of the things that the cdc will do is try to track every contact that this person had. of course the question now is, well, what about on that plane. the truth is, there have been studies done on tuberculosis on a plane. he would not believe this, but it is hard to catch on a point. it is not airborne. you're not going to get it by touching someone, even ebola. would have to be very close contact with the secretion. it is not likely a person would have transmitted on the plane. and now in the united states under wraps, i don't think anyone will get it. it is possible that he has come into contact with others. they have to play sherlock holmes a track that down. gerri: rick, you follow the

airline industry, covered extensively. what is going through the minds of airline executives tonight as they learn that the person we are talking about in dallas most likely came here from africa on an airplane? >> right now they're worried about selling airline tickets. people start saying, look, i am not going to travel over the atlantic pacific because i am worried that i may have an issue, a health issue, especially something so incredibly bad as the ebola virus. we have seen sars. lots of things that dropped ticket prices. executives are asking the same questions, what we can do to make sure the flying public is safe and now we let them know that there will be safe. gerri: did you say that airline ticket prices dropped in the wake of sars? >> absolutely. ticket prices, any kind of event. we have seen stuff in mexico

when there were issues. asia. people, they get skittish about flying, especially for these thousand, $1,700 flights. they just won't go. gerri: i think that brings up a good question. we are talking about ebola, people are worried, and even now you are looking at pictures of the texas health presbyterian hospital in dallas where the first u.s. diagnose is right here in the united states of america ebola patient is and is being treated in isolation no doubt. what do parents, mom and dad and grandparents need to know tonight as they are thinking about the spread of this disease to this country ? >> the first point is that fear is a prominent virus. if you watch this on tv, if you're watching is now you immediately think that this could happen to me. the truth is, it can't. it is very remote from three the second thing you should be comforted by is we are learning from this case. in dallas, the cdc are seeing a case right up close now. they can learn from this case about how to treat

ebola and contain it. this kind of information is priceless, especially as we get a vaccine ready. that is also important. again, the detective part of this is important, but everyone needs to realize that this is not like the flu or a cold. it is really, really difficult to get this. even if you were in the same room with a ebola patient, a touch the surface is that the attached you will not get it. gerri: i just want to mention because here it is 5:33 p.m., and the markets have been closed. in after-hours trading companies that make ebola vaccines, stocks are soaring, some of 20%, to america pharmaceuticals, genetics, on and on the story goes. people are buying these stocks because now, today, for the first time in american right here in this country diagnosed with ebola for the first time, and we are just moments away from a press conference with the cdc where they will talk about what has happened. again, you are looking at

pictures of the taxes of presbyterian hospital in dallas with his patient is being held entreated and isolated which is the point that he is making. we are good at isolating patients with contagious diseases. how important is this? tell us something about what that means as a practical matter? >> it is really, really important to isolate the patient. what that means is -- by the way, you will see masks and gowns, but i want people to no, that is overkill. just keeping the patient away from other people is what they're not doing well in west africa where people are watching or are very close in with sick people, that stuff we would not do in a million years here in the united states. simply putting the patient in an isolation room where you use gloves and gowns and keep the patient off limits will be enough. i want to comment quickly on something that is being said

about air travel. their is a huge economic cost. during sars it was $30 million or more that the asian economy suffered losses. the end up cutting off air flights entirely to these countries it will be like a chokehold. gerri: like a choke hold. and the associated press confirming what we have been saying that a patient being treated at a dallas hospital is testing positive for ebola. the taxes at that texas health -- the folks at the taxes health presbyterian hospital, there will be coming up with recommendations for keeping everyone safe. you're looking at pictures of that hospital. the cdc running a little late in getting to us with the latest news on this. we, of course, will bring this to you and continue to follow the story. again, let's bring you back here you have been talking about travel in the age of ebola. what would be your advice to people who are planning to travel overseas, possibly to africa? i have neighbors who are just back from africa. would you cancel a trip like that?

>> i definitely would be looking at or talking to my airline, looking at the information, actually getting information from the doctor. i just got back on a flight from london heathrow last night. i guarantee you that there were at least 10,000 people from africa runn

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♪ gerri: in case you missed it tonight, the first american diagnosed with ebola, and you are looking at the very hospital where this person is, the texas health presbyterian hospital in dallas where this person is being held and treated in isolation, we are being told. currently we are awaiting a cdc press conference to give more details on this. again, the first american diagnosed with ebola. one to turn you -- turn to

you. you're with us now. an expert on travel and airlines. we came across information that i thought is worth mentioning tonight. apparently there are about 200,000 africans from countries hosting the deadly ebola virus to hold temporary visas to visit the united states, raising the stakes that it can spread to america. pardon me, the cdc right now. we will go straight to its. >> cdc ebola media briefing. i am barbara reynolds, the director of public affairs here at cdc. we will be hearing briefly from four speakers and then take questions from the media. our first speaker is the director of cdc backed chair tom friedman. >> good afternoon, everybody. thank you for joining us. as you have been hearing from us, fox business is a serious disease. it is only spread by direct contact with someone who is sick with the virus. and it is only spread

through body fluid. the incubation is eight to ten days after exposure. can be as short as two or as long as 21. it is a severe disease which has a high case fatality rate, even with the best of care, but there are core tried and true public health interventions that stop it. today we are providing the information that an individual travelling from liberia has been diagnosed with ebola in the united states. this individual left liberia on the 19th of september, arrived in the u.s. on the 20th of september, had no symptoms when departing liberia or entering this country, but for five days later around the 24th of september began to develop symptoms. on the 26 of september he

initially sought care and sunday the 28th of september was admitted to a hospital in texas and placed on isolation. we received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual, tested them, and they tested positive for ebola. the state of texas also operates a laboratory that found the same results, testing for ebola is highly accurate. it is a pcr test of blood. so what does this mean? the next steps are basically threefold. first, to care for the patient, and we will be hearing from the hospital shortly to provide the most effective care possible, as safely as possible, to keep to an absolute minimum the likelihood or

we are invested in ensuring that the disease is controlled in africa but also in ensuring that where there are patients in this country become male they are immediately isolated and we do the tried and true for public health interventions that stop the spread of ebola. >> thank you, dr. tom frieden. i would like to nex

>> dr. good man. thank you, dr. friedman. the cdc. i want to correct one statement that might have been misinterpreted by dr. friedman when he commented on the air we breathe. ebola is not transmitted by the air. it is not an airborne infection. texas health dallas is a large

community hospital with a robust infection control system that works in close cooperation with the dallas county health department the centers for disease control in the system and in the community. we have had a plan in place for some time now in the event of a patient presecretary with possible ebola. ironically enough in the week before this patient presented, we had a meeting of all the stakeholders that might be involved in the care of such a patient. and because of that, we were well-prepared to deal with this crisis. thank you. >> thank you, dr. good man. our final speaker is the dallas county health and human services director, zachary thomas. director tom son. >> good afternoon our hearts go to the family as well as.

i want to thank the department of state as well as presbyterian for our response in dallas kuhn. i also want to commend our medical director and our team for their work that they've been doing in conducting public follow-up on the patient which continues contact investigation to gather information based on the patient's travel history, activities, and close contacts. dallas county health and human services will proceed with the public health follow-up per cdc guidelines and dallas county health services want dallas citizens to know that your health is our number one priority. we will continue to work hard to protect the health and welfare of the citizens of dallas county. thank you. >> thank you director thomas. we'll now take questions. >> thank you very much for

questions we'll start in the room and then go to the phone. thank you very much also for that comment dr. good man. as emphasissed ebola is only spread by direct contact. touchdowns spread by any other route. i also want to thank texas and dallas county health departments for their collaborations. cdc has a team of epidemiologists on route to texas now at the request of the texas department of health and we work hand in hand clability to do what public health does best which is protect people. and we protect people in this case by making sure that we find the contacts, identify them and make sure that they're traced every day for 21 days, and if they develop a fever, that they're immediately isolated.

so first question in the room. >> so you were saying that he started showing symptoms went to a hospital, and then was released, sent home, and then was not admitted until a day or two later? >> so the initial symptoms of ebola are often nonspecific. that means they are symptoms that may be associated with many other conditions so it may not be immediately identified as ebola. that's why we have encouraged all emergency department physicians to take a history of travel within the last 21 days. that's something to reiterate to do rapid testing. >> i think you summarized it very well. >> next question in the room. >> i know you're limited with patient privacy, but can you tell us a little bit was this person involved in fighting the ebola epidemic also did they travel on a commercial aircraft?

>> from the information that we have now, touchdowns appear that the individual was involved in the response to ebola. but that's something that we will investigate more. in terms of the airline flight. i really want to emphasize the focus here over the next period needs to be the patient, and we're very, very focused on trying to get any assistance we can to the patient who we understand is critically ill at this point and then identifying contacts in the community, family members or others, and then who -- any possible contacts through the health care setting and then tracing those contacts. in terms of the flight, i understand that people are curious about that and wonder about that, but remember that ebola doesn't spread before someone gets sick and he didn't get sick until four days after

he got off the airplane. we don't believe there is any risk to anyone on the flight at that time. he left on the 19th and arrived on the 20th. next question in the room. >> michelle alloy. how likely is this to continue to be a concern with people coming back from the region who are showing symptoms then, but may later, and what is being done at airports and sort of the first lines of people coming into the country to ensure something like this doesn't continue to be an issue. >> as long as there continue to be cases in west africa the reality is that patients travel, individuals travel, and that appears to happen in this case. individuals may travel before they have any symptoms. one of the things that cdc has done in liberia and lagos is to work with the airport authority. so 100 percent of the individuals getting on planes

are screamed for fever before they get on the plane. if they have a fever, they're pulled out of the line, assessed for ebola and don't fly unless ebola is ruled out. this is one way to make sure that the airplanes themselves are safe during transit and the airlines are willing to keep flying. but that doesn't rule out a situation like this one where someone was exposed and then came in while they were incould you beating the disease, but not infectious with it. >> can you tell us where he was and do you know why he was in those countries. >> the details of the individual are things that we will investigate. some of those things have to do with patient confidential. we will defer to the family for any other information on those details. we have a question here and then shall we go to the phones. >> do you expect the patient to remain in texas and be treated there or transferred to

facilities such as emery or one of the other specialties around the country that have been treating them in the past. >> one of the things we want to emphasize is that virtually any hospital in this country that can do isolation can do isolation for ebola. in fact over the past decade, although this is the first ebola patient in this country we've had five patients with other forms of very deadly viruses, four of them loss fever, none of those five patients spread the disease to anyone caring for them in the hospital. even though they weren't promptly diagnosed. so we don't see a need from either a medical or infection control standpoint to try to move the patient. >> i think that summarizes it very well. >> on the phone? >> please press star one the

first question is miriam from cnn news. >> hi, thanks for taking the call. can you tell us how sick the patient is how the patient is being treated and how many contacts you are trying to reach. that might be something for the folks in texas. and also, will this patient be staying at the hospital in dallas? >> so let me turn first to dr. goodman if there's any anything you can share about the patient's status or treatment. >> because of the patient's privacy, we're unenable to share anything about the patient's symptoms at this time. i can say that he's ill. he's under intensive care. he's being seen by highly trained competent specialties and the health department is helping us in tracing any family members that might have been exposed. >> and director thomas, do you want to say anything further

about contacts. >> i want to echo that our staff has been doing the public health follow-up since day one so we'll continue that process, and we'll have more details in days to come, but right now everything is going fine. thank you. >> as i mentioned earlier, we have a team on route to texas now. they will work hand in hand with the staff to identify all possible contacts. and then monitor them every day for 21 days to see if they have fever. this is core public health work. they say what we do in public health and we're delighted to be doing it in partnership with texas. we're concerned about the patient and hoping for his recovery. on the phone. >> the next question the wall street becky. >> i wondered if i could ask for a little more detail about potential exposures.

do you have -- is there anything that any of you could say more about what this patient was doing between the 24th when he had symptoms and the 28th when he was admitted. was he just at home and so only family members were potentially exposed or how many people -- or was he out? are we talking about a handful of people or more than that, dozens. >> i think handful is the right characterization. we know that there are several family members. they may have been one or two or three other community members. and we're there to do additional investigations to identify any other possibilities. our approach in this kind of case is to cast the net widely to ensure that we're identifying even people who may not have had direct contact so that we're erring if erring on the side of safety. mr. thomas, anything else you would like to add? >> i concur our role is to look

at suspected cases. and we appreciate sending your team to support us in this effort. we think again it's a small framework we're looking at in terms of the number of people, but once he get additional people we'll report out to the public. >> and i would comment, this is a tried and true protocol. this is what we do in public health. it's what we do in this country for a variety of infectious diseases. in fact by coincidence, today we released in the morbidity and mortality report our weekly bulletin, a report of nigeria investigation a single patient came in. unlike this, that patient wasn't cared of and resulted a number of secondary cases. even in lagos and even with 19 secondary cases, they appeared to be able to stop the outbreak. i have no doubt we will stop