>> it's hot. >> yes, it is. >> oh my goodness. >> brian williams is next. we hope to see you back at 6:00. >> good night, folks. on our broadcast tonight, ebola emergency on american soil. and now the search to find everyone who came in contact with a dallas ebola patient including at least five children. and tonight, some tough questions for the hospital that initially sent him home. and our other major health story tonight, this growing mystery now in 42 states, the virus striking children, new cases of sudden paralysis. stepping down, the embattled head of the u.s. secret service resigns under intense pressure as we're still learning more about the latest security lapse. and at home with joan lunden speaking candidly about breast cancer and the private battle so many women know all too well. "nightly news" begins now.

from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. good evening. we have two major health stories unfolding in this country, both having to do with infectious diseases, both of concern to a lot of people, especially parents and in different areas of our country. they are the first u.s. case of ebola virus and the spread of the enterovirus in a new and possible offshoot that brings the threat of paralysis. which we don't yet know is temporary or permanent. we're going to take them in order. we're going to talk about them with dr. anthony fauci, the infectious disease specialist at the national institutes of health. ron mott is covering the ebola case in dallas. nancy snyderman, dr. fauci standing by in bethesda. first we want to begin with ron mott and a new term in our lexicon, contact tracers, the people who trace down all those

who may have come in contact, ron, with this ebola patient in texas. good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian. good evening to you. there's a team of ten cdc experts on the ground tonight working this case. we know the man's name, we know the basic timeline of his travels from west africa to the dallas area where tonight he's in isolation at texas health presbyterian hospital. what isn't so clear is why he was sent away from this er last friday with antibiotics and not admitted right away. the man hospitalized and isolated since sunday at this dallas hospital diagnosed tuesday with ebola has been identified as thomas eric duncan, a liberian national. he is seriously ill. they said they are watching some children. >> today we learned that some school age children have been identified as having had contact with the patient and are now being monitored at home for any signs of the skis. >> reporter: officials say five children in four school districts have been told to stay

home as the districts began alerting parents by letter. mike johnson picked up his daughter and said he was headed straight to a hospital. >> we're going to get it checked out just to see. >> reporter: authorities say between 12 and 18 people are being monitored for up to three weeks including three paramedics who rushed duncan to the emergency room over the weekend from this northeast dallas apartment complex. what gave them any sort of indication that this might have been -- this could be an ebola patient? >> actually, that wasn't the case. it was just more we're dealing with a contagious patient. any time we're dealing with a contagious patient, we just have normal protocol, what we would call glove, you put your gloves on, mask on, and that's for your protection. >> reporter: a critical question, did hospital staff miss an opportunity to isolate duncan sooner? he left liberia on september 19th after an airport screening for fever, connected in brussels, transferred at dulles before landing in dallas the next day with no symptoms.

he developed symptoms four days later and went to the er last friday but left with antibiotics even having telling a nurse he had travel to the u.s. from africa. >> that information was not fully communicated throughout the full team, and as a result the full import of that information wasn't factored into the clinical decision making. >> reporter: in the neighborhood where duncan was staying people are worried. >> kids go outside, play around and we want the best for our kids, i guess. >> reporter: as many as 10,000 liberians live in north texas. >> it's not like praying for just one person. we're praying for a nation. we're praying for all the father and mother families that have been affected. >> reporter: officials aren't saying what exactly mr. duncan is being treated with here at the hospital tonight. they say the key to effective treatment is maintaining adequate fluid levels, oxygen and supportive care, brian. >> ron mott in dallas where this turned downright worrisome today. ron, thanks. and we are learning more about

this patient's movements before he arrived in the u.s. from liberia, which of course has been the epicenter of this outbreak in west africa, and about how he may have been exposed there in the first place. as we said, dr. nancy snyderman is there. she has a late report from liberia's capital of monrovia tonight. >> reporter: good evening, brian. nbc news today contacted the family member of the liberian man now hospitalized in texas. they confirm when he boarded his plane on september 19th he was well. and that's significant, because anyone leaving this country has his or her temperature taken. which means he was not symptomatic. and people on the flight from monrovia to brussels are not at risk from getting this disease. interestingly it's easier to catch influenza than it is ebola. you have to come into direct contact with bodily fluids. that means vomit, diarrhea, blood, urine or sweat.

we have expected there would be a case of ebola in the united states at some point because it is not controlled in liberia. this is a sobering reminder that this virus will continue to skip around the world if we don't contain it here on these shores. brian. >> dr. nancy snyderman in liberia for us tonight. thanks. and as scary as ebola is, doctors at least know what to expect when someone comes down with it. the same cannot be said of this other matter, this mysterious virus afflicting hundreds of children throughout our country. and there's obviously concern now that it may be linked to this paralysis and now even death in some of these young patients. the latest on this from nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: today at a rhode island hospital doctors confirmed that a 10-year-old girl who died last week of a bacterial infection also had symptoms of the rare enterovirus 68. the question now, what if any role did the virus play in the

girl's death? >> we don't know which came first. and that's not possible to know with the current state of our science. >> reporter: tonight, hospitals nationwide are on alert to notify the cdc about all patients with the virus that is now in 42 states and the district of columbia. four patients who have died tested positive for the virus, but it's unclear what role the virus played in those deaths. it appears most of them are among children who have asthma or other breathing problems. some children with the symptom of the virus have developed limb weakness or paralysis. >> in the last week and a half children are coming in with complaints they're not moving some of their limbs. >> reporter: just this week cases have been reported in massachusetts, missouri, california, and in michigan one case involved a 7-month-old baby

boy. the cdc is also investigating a group of ten children in colorado who developed paralysis after a severe respiratory illness. four of them tested positive for the enterovirus. doctors say they don't know if the paralysis is temporary or permanent. >> well, it's right on the top of my radar of concern at the moment. remains an unsolved disease mystery. >> reporter: tonight, parents are taking precautions. >> i really want to take her to the library, but maybe i'll hold back on that for a little bit. >> reporter: so what can parents do? doctors say make sure your children frequently wash their hands. and if they're sick, by all means keep them home. brian. >> rehema ellis here with us in new york. rehema, thanks. so many concerns, so many questions about this virus and new reality of ebola within the united states. for answers we turn tonight to dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. doctor, let's take these in order. first, this virus has gone from

bad to worse. is there a link between this and these cases of paralysis? what should parents do or think about this? >> well, first of all, it's still unclear as you correctly mentioned on the segment that the cause/effect relationship between the enterovirus d-68 and these cases of disturbing muscle weakness and paralysis are not really clear of what the association is. there appears to be an association in some of the children that were examined, but it's not been definitively shown. as far as parents and what they need to do, just what you said. it has to be that first of all as in any respiratory born virus, washing hands as often as you can. if the child is sick, keep the child home and if there are other sick children around, try as best as possible to keep your child away from sick children, which is how it is transmitted because it's a respiratory virus and relatively easily transmitted from one to another.

>> and now to ebola. and i hate to ask an accomplished man of medicine two hypotheticals in a row, but let's consider this case. days have passed, they're looking for all contact individuals considering the jet age how much worse does this get within the boundaries of the united states? >> i do not think that we are going to have a problem here. i think this is going to be as we would have predicted contained for the following reason, the person who's sick is now in isolation capability, in a hospital being cared for. the contacts of that person are being identified and traced. and we know from now years and years of experience with smaller outbreaks of ebola that when you do contact tracing and get the individuals to be monitored to see if they have a fever if they get symptoms, if they do well for 21 days, they're home free. if they get symptoms, then you isolate them and find out if they have ebola.

if we do that, which we do it. the cdc does it very well. they're highly trained. they know what they're doing. they will contain this. >> dr. anthony fauci who has been on matters like this, our nation's go-to physician in bethesda nih, doctor, thank you very much for being with us tonight. to another major story we covered all day today, the security breaches at the white house have now cost the secret service director her job. julia pierson, 30-year veteran, will be replaced at least in the interim by a veteran agent known to all in the organization as clancy, joseph clancy, formerly in charge of presidential protection often seen at the president's side, he retired in 2011, but he's been called back into service. nbc's kristen welker has our report. >> reporter: it's a much more visibly secure white house than it was 12 days ago. more guards, a locked front door and now a change at the top of

the secret service. >> the president and secretary concluded that new leadership was required. >> reporter: director julia pierson resigned after her support eroded after the wake of this unprecedented security breach and her rocky hearing on capitol hill yesterday. >> ma'am, i want a short answer. i have very little time. >> reporter: the breaking point for many lawmakers? the revelation that secret service agents permitted president obama to ride in an elevator with an armed security contractor with a criminal history during a recent trip to atlanta. a detail she never disclosed during her more than three hours of testimony. even the white house didn't find out until yesterday. by this morning mounting calls for her to go. >> she is losing trust. >> reporter: ironically, pierson was appointed to clean up the agency in 2013. 2009, the salahis crash a state dinner. 2011, it takes four days to discover a gunman's bullets had hit the residence. 2012, several agents lose their job after consorting with prostitutes on a presidential

trip to colombia. and last year at nelson mandela's memorial service a fake interpreter with a criminal past stands inches away from the president. >> it was the right decision. it's in the best interest of the country. it's the best interest of the secret service. >> the secret service at this point needs someone to come in with a fresh set of eyes. no more rose colored glasses. >> reporter: joseph clancy, a former head of the secret service presidential protective division was named interim acting director. since clancy left the secret service, he's been working as director of corporate security for our parent company, comcast. he's been away from the agency for three years. >> i'm very pleased. he is a person who the president has the utmost confidence in, believes he would take a bullet for him. >> reporter: in an interview with bloomberg news, pierson said it's painful to leave as the agency is reeling from a significant security breach. the homeland security secretary said he will take over the investigation of all those security breaches and appoint a

board of experts to examine broader issues at the troubled secret service. clear evidence the administration has lost confidence in the direction of the agency tasked with protecting the president. brian. >> kristen welker on the much-discussed white house north lawn tonight. kristen, thanks. still ahead for us this evening, at home with joan lunden. a very honest conversation about breast cancer and how so many of her fellow fighters have rallied around. and later, a thrilling come-from-behind victory as a great american city goes wild.

coming up, much-talked about people magazine coverage, joan lunden in a week of appearances on "today" show. opening up about her fight as we begin breast cancer awareness month. tonight, hoda kotb, a fellow breast cancer survivor, brings her conversation with joan to us starting with the moment she received her diagnosis. >> how did you get the news? >> the doctor, the radiologist, she walked in, and as soon as she walked in i knew by her demeanor. >> you did? >> i knew by her demeanor. she just wasn't even looking at me. and she sat down and she said you have breast cancer. as i understand it, 250,000 women in this country had breast cancer last year. and a lot of them are going through chemo. and they're losing their hair. and they might not say it because, i'll be honest with

you, i've never really voiced this with my husband, but you feel less like a woman. you feel less feminine. you feel less beautiful. you feel kind of embarrassed. you feel kind of like the ugly duckling. >> joan had aggressive stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. she chose to do an experimental treatment, 12 rounds of toxic chemotherapy, then a lumpectomy. >> tell me about the outpouring? what did you feel? what came to you from people who watched you for years? >> boy, oh boy, i did not know what was going to come down the pike. then it started. thousands and thousands of tweets, facebook messages, e-mails into my website. and i realized that thousands of people were taking the time to sit and say to me i'm going to include you in my prayers. it totally changed my relationship with the viewing audience. >> you knew they loved you. >> yeah. >> and joan says this journey, this fight against cancer, has changed her.

>> it just gives you this much, much greater appreciation for life. and it's a shame you have to go through something that almost takes life away to appreciate it more, but it certainly does do it to you. >> hoda kotb, nbc news, new york. we'll take a break here. we're back in a moment with the jaw dropping view from the air of a gathering the world has never quite seen.

former president jimmy carter turned 90 today. by all accounts just as busy as he was when he was 50. he continues his work with the carter center, traveling the world, writing books. he's now authored 28 of them in addition to teaching bible studies at home in plains, georgia. while our oldest former president, george h.w. bush turned 90 earlier this year, president carter has now lived longer after leaving the white house than any other president in u.s. history. two large containerized

ships have collided almost in slow motion in the suez canal. a german vessel and a ship out of singapore hit each other when the german vessel apparently tried to overtake the other and misjudged the turn. containers fell into the water. the waterway was shut down for three hours. an incredible scene we mentioned earlier, northwest alaska where an estimated 35,000 walruses have come ashore. government scientists say it's because the ice they normally rest on offshore has melted. it's no longer there. they've come ashore in record numbers. they were spotted from the air during the annual aerial survey of marine mammals. and hold on just a minute, who's that in our anchor chair? that would be our friend and loyal "nightly news" viewer sam day. he's here with his family from oregon, part of a surprise for sam who is raising money to fight the very rare ewing sarcoma. our money by the way is on our friend sam. another break. when we come back, the incredible thrill of victory.

the kansas city royals have ended one of the longest post season droughts in all of sports. and they did it in dramatic fashion. it's been so long in fact, more than half the current roster

wasn't even born yet when the royals last made the playoffs. and what a time to be a sports fan in that city. first came major league soccer champions, then the chiefs pounded the patriots at home, but as nbc's harry smith reports nothing compares to what happened on the baseball diamond last night. >> reporter: kansas city waited for this moment since 1985. the beloved royals after decades of failure had once again worked their way into a game that really mattered, a one-game playoff against the oakland a's. and with a packed stadium yearning, aching for a win, it didn't look good for the hometown team. >> and there's a shot to center. and that's going to score another run. >> reporter: but as has happened so often this season, the tenacious royals, hit by hit, run by run, managed to catch up.

and finally in the bottom of the 12th inning sweet victory. >> what a night here in kansas city! >> we just haven't quit. we're not going to go home until someone tells us. >> reporter: something about suffering and baseball. it's a bittersweet agony we endure when our loyalty to the hometown team is unshakable. an agony that is sufferable only because we believe deep down that one day somehow, some way our team will win. and when they do there is no greater bliss. harry smith, nbc news. >> congratulations to kansas city. that is for us our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

we don't have the resources to protect the rest of the city. >> right now at 6:00, a city on hold? a worried plea from police officers about one small emergency that put a big strain on an already overworked department. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang. >> i'm raj mathai. it was a 911 call that sent san jose police officers scrambling. a man barricaded inside of a home. as this was happening, other 911 calls went unanswered. that was yesterday. but police, the public, and the

candidates for mayor are still talking about it today. nbc bay area's robert honda is in san jose where the mayoral debate weather center to begin. police staffing will be a hot topic this evening. >> reporter: that's right, raj. some people we talked to that are attending the debate at the roosevelt community center told us they are looking for answers to the police staffing problems. one day after the department found itself shorthanded from a case close by. the san jose police department has less than 900 active officers. so when a suspect barricaded himself inside an apartment complex yesterday, close to today's mayoral debate site, officers called it the perfect storm because it came at a shift change and required units from all over the city to help. they say numerous other emergency calls, including half a dozen downtown, had to be put off. >> a major incident like this that essentially wipes out our entire police force will back up calls for hours and hours, sometimes a