. >> straight out to eric philips with wsb-tv joining us outside the command center there in blairsville, georgia. eric, what's latest? why has the search expanded into three states? >> well, nancy, the fbi has gotten involved because of the fact they believe whoever abducted kristi cornwell possibly took her from that location on jones creek road here in blairsville. possibly, possibly, across state lines, maybe into tennessee, perhaps into north carolina. because the road that's right behind me, actually if you continue on it leads into tennessee. that's why the fbi's gotten involved. what they've done is sent a couple of agents, probably three to five agents, down here to join the army of those who have been out looking for kristi cornwell for last several days. in fact, tonight, starting at 8:00 eastern, there's more roadblock situations that are forming all around this area. really crossing a three-mile radius. what they're doing is stopping and asking people, have you seen anything? i know you probably heard about the situation. did you see anything on tuesday night between 8:00 an

eric holder from appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the bush administration's interrogation practices. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: from new york city, philip alcabes, author of "dread." let's get right to it. early in the book, you write that epidemics fascinate us. host: give it your best shot. describing an epidemic for us. what is it? how should we look at? guest: bitan epidemic is always a story that a society tells itself about a disease outbreak or the threat of a disease outbreak. sometimes we talk about epidemics that do not qualify as diseases in the classical sense. for instance, we talk about an epidemic of obesity nowadays. 10 years ago, we were talking about an epidemic of road rage. those do not seem like diseases in the classical sense, if you think about the plague or colorists. it is a story we tell about a social crisis. maybe that is the best way to put its. host: you also say that epidemics create opportunities to convey messages. host: this is right at the front of the book. explain more. guest: it often seems to be true that when we face a social problem, when we do not know how to deal with it, we do not know what th