the work that cdc does is better known outside the u.s. and inside. have staff in 60 countries, 2000 staff working on a wide range of issues and i think one of the most exciting ones is building the capacity to do this type of investigation and response all over the world. the u.s. ambassador to africa is likeme that the cdc 911 for the world. that's great. really what we like is to make sure that every single country has its own public health 911. >> they mentioned bioterrorism as the underpinnings of why we do some of the work we do. bitll talk to you a little about 9/11 today. most of our lives were changed forever. i remember standing in the cdc lobby and the guards put it up on the television strain -- screen. i know all of america was so devastated by this. unlike most americans, i was pulled into action that day. i was able to feel like i was doing something because i was pulled on the plane that flew into manhattan that night. this is not a story that we necessarily talk about a lot but the cdc was the only plain allowed in the sky that day. i

reports over the years appear to be systemic. cdc needs to assure the proper policies are implemented. dr. frieden, you said you were distressed about the delay. i wanted to know if you were concerned about why cdc workers are not reporting everything and whether you have reason to believe that they may be afraid to report the incidents. cdc is not going to solve this unless it gets as much information as possible from its own people. since 2007 there have been 17 reports at cdc indicating that a worker was potentially exposed to an agent or toxin. thankfully as far as we are aware no one has become sick from improper handling but cdc should not assume that its luck will continue. soon oar or later that luck will run out and someone will get very sick or die. cdc needs to strengthen its safety procedures. the risks from the deadly pathogens require fail safe methods similar to those used in other contexts such as handling weapons. the subcommittee will review the oversight of oversight laboratories and to explore the possibility of a

the work that cdc does is better known outside the u.s. and inside. have staff in 60 countries, 2000 staff working on a wide range of issues and i think one of the most exciting ones is building the capacity to do this type of investigation and response all over the world. the u.s. ambassador to africa is likeme that the cdc 911 for the world. that's great. really what we like is to make sure that every single country has its own public health 911. >> they mentioned bioterrorism as the underpinnings of why we do some of the work we do. bitll talk to you a little about 9/11 today. most of our lives were changed forever. i remember standing in the cdc lobby and the guards put it up on the television strain -- screen. i know all of america was so devastated by this. unlike most americans, i was pulled into action that day. i was able to feel like i was doing something because i was pulled on the plane that flew into manhattan that night. this is not a story that we necessarily talk about a lot but the cdc was the only plain allowed in the sky that day. i

he is here as director of the cdc and will moderate the panel. they will moderate the panel, asking questions of his colleagues for about 35 minutes and then we will open it up to you to ask them questions and he will field those from his chair. we will have about 25 minutes of questions and at 8:30 p.m. we will a you go. [applause] >> i hope you enjoy aspen during the next hour as well. we will tell you what it is like to be a disease detectives. for those of you that saw the movie "contagion." kate winslet is a disease detectives and it is pretty realistic. it is a boots on the ground experience of what the cdc does to keep all of us safe. eis officers, the program is more than 60 years old and is a really unique type of training. it is the epidemic intelligence services and a clever fellow figured that if he could highlight that we needed this kind of specialist to protect ourselves from biological warfare, he would probably get funding from congress for it. and they would both protect us from biological warfare and from lots of other health t

friedan suggest will be undertaken at the cdc, precisely the steps that are required at the cdc. the question is whether this time will be different from the previous time and the time before that, and the time before that. >> and if they did not do that, i think probably, according to what you have said, you would terminate the whole bunch? >> again, i'm sure -- in this particular case personnel action won't be submit -- this is institutional and organizational. they cannot have the regulatory authority to regulate themselves. it simply. mr. kauffman, anything to add to that? >> i continued to stand by my belief that any type of -- and in my conviction, because over the last ten years you have traveled the world including several federal labs in the united states. i have asked scientists to please report so we have a chance to learn from them. if they take this chance now and turn it into a punitive aspects against scientists who make unintentional injuries, it's well know punishment does three things. it builds resent muppet. it teaches no new behavior, and it hides true behavio

the cdc is sending 50 more people to the region in the next month. dr.edith dixon just returned from two tours in the remote part of guinea where she was trying to help control the outbreak. >> one day we were removed from that area because there were rumors that a group of young men would be coming to destroy the treatment center because they wanted to destroy ebola. >> reporter: she says that situation never escalated, but it shows the kind of hurdles and confusion the health workers face there. here in the united states, a different sort of confusion. different questions. for example, if ebola is not airborne, then why were there such extraordinary precautions taken for dr. kent brantly and miss writebol? it turns out it was more an abundance of precaution than a necessity. >> we're pretty confident that any large hospital could handle an ebola case if one were to show up at their doorstep, using traditional isolation rooms with negative pressure room and with traditional droplet and respiratory precautions. >> reporter: and while i suited up in multi

let the cdc go treat them, cuba, guantanamo, there's a number of places they could be treated. >> put them in an area. the thing that is not being talked about here which is obvious is we have all of these people streaming across the border down in texas. nobody screens them. nobody checks them. the president says let them come on in. how do we know those people aren't infected. how do we know somebody isn't going to be infected on the border and come in. it's crazy. >> john let me get back to you but please address the cdc saying it's inevitable they'll end up in the u.s. that could be counter to what you just said. >> they also said it was not likely to spread in the u.s. here and if you're likening it to hiv and aids it's pretty o outrageous. if you don't want to do something, talk about getting rid of the development of treatments for ebola and these other terrible diseases so expensive and so difficult to produce. >> literally that's another segment we want to do. we don't have time to do them both. but juan you want to jump in here because the cdc and who sound the alarm loud an

the cdc is sending 50 more people to the region in the next month. dr. meredith dixon just returned from two tours in the remote part of guinea. >> one day we were removed from that area because there were rumors that a group of young men would be coming to destroy the treatment center because they wanted to destroy ebola. >> reporter: she says that situation never escalated. but it shows the kind of hurdles and confusion the health workers face there. here in the united states, a different sort of confusion. different questions. for example, if ebola is not airborne, then why were there such extraordinary precautions taken for dr. kent brantley and miss wrightbol? turns out it was an abundance of caution rather than a necessity. >> we're pretty confident that any large hospital could handle an ebola case if one were to show up at their doorstep, using traditional isolation rooms with negative pressure room and with traditional droplet and respiratory precautions. >> reporter: and while i suited up in multiple layers when i was in guinea just earlier thi

this is the cdc's emergency operation center. as the nerve center of its response to the ebola outbreak. just a few minutes after i walked in, phones and blackberries started buzzing everywhere. >> while we were here the activation level went up to level 1. just in the last couple minutes. what does that mean? >> what that means is just more people and more resources dedicated to the response. >> reporter: in that room, you could feel a quiet determination and a sense of urgency. what you're looking at is what the cdc looks at, a map of the world, trying to figure out what infectious diseases are happening and where they're happening. as you might imagine a lot of focus on ebola right now, tracking that as well real-time, they've been doing it since march. take a look in here. this really jumped out at me. mid may they thought things were basically under control. look what happens at the beginning of june. everything takes off. this is on its way becoming the worst ebola outbreak in history. dr. steven monroe is helping lead the c

the cdc director said ebola has to be stopped at the source in west africa and that is why the cdc is sending an additional 50 staff members to the ground there by the end of next week. live in washington, kyla campbell, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> and the remains of some of the victims of the jonestown mass cults murder suicide have been found -- cut murder/suicide have been found. where and how they got there more than three decades after the massacre. >> and the barricades are going up for the outside lands music festival. why there is a special eye on security this year. sure... hey canyou bet! this? that's our new interactive speaker wall. 'sup? thinks it's a speak-ing wall. this can even dim your lights. your 3-d-printed girlfriend will love that. real mature. there you go. a laser drone for cats. i wish i had lasers. i don't. pew pew pew... the new radioshack is finally here. the store of your past is now the store of your future. come see one of our remodeled stores and get a free portable power charger with a $15 purchase. . >>> we're following new developments stemming from the

we've been talking all day about the new alert from the cdc. you happen to be there when the decision was made and announcement was made. give folks what this means and what it looks like. >> first of all it's a pretty unusual step. i mean this has happened in the past, for example, during h1n1, the cdc was at level 1 then, and before that hurricane katrina. just to give you an idea of how frequent or infrequent it is. it's mobilizing a lot more manpower if you will. at the cdc headquarters in atlanta but mobilizing people to go into the field in west africa, they will have 50 more people going there over the next several weeks. so, you know, that -- these are part of what happens -- sort of thing that happens during a level one. i think it's a question of saying, we are focusing on a lot of things as an agency, now we're going to focus most of our attention on ebola and may pull in people who have high levels of expertise from other agencies into the cdc to help that focus as well. >> even a few more resources too, sanjay, in terms of finances

this is the cdc's emergency operation center. think of it as the nerve center of its response to the ebola outbreak. just a few minutes after i walked in, phones and blackberries started buzzing everywhere. >> while we were here, the activation level just went up to level one, just in the last couple of minutes. what does that mean? >> what that means is just more people and more resources dedicated to the response. >> reporter: in that room you could feel a quiet determination and a sense of urgency. >> what you're looking at is what the cdc looks at, a map of the world trying to figure out what infectious diseases are happening and where they are mention. as you can imagine, a lot of focus on ebola, tracking that realtime. they have been doing it since march. take a look at it. mid-may, they thought things are basically under control and look what happens at the beginning of june. everything takes off, on its way of becoming one of the worst ebola outbreaks in history. >> reporter: dr. steven monroe is helping lead the cdc's ebo

steven monroe is helping lead the cdc's ebola response. not an easy task at all. s there mistakes made? i mean, is there a reason why this outbreak is worse than any other outbreak in history? >> the initial event, the lightning strike, if you will, was right in this corner between three countries in a very remote part of each of those countries. and so it quickly spread across the borders. >> reporter: here in the united states, different questions. for example, if ebola's not airborne, then why were there such extraordinary precautions taken for dr. kent brantly and miss writebol? turns out it was more an abundance of caution rather than a necessity. >> we're pretty confident that any large hospital could handle an ebola case if one were to show up at their doorstep using traditional isolation rooms with negative pressure room and with traditional droplet and respiratory percussions. >> reporter: and while i suited up in multiple layers when i was in guinea earlier this year. >> that can be worn by health care worker whence they come boo into contact with patient

the head of the cdc told me that the containment they're using for dr. brantly is the same they used for sars in 2003, which was an airborne virus. much, much, much more difficult for people to catch ebola. >> very interesting. and tell us a little more what you know about this special facility at emory. >> well, it's one of a kind almost, there's just a couple of them in the country. really for viewers, it would be -- people would be wearing like space suits. and that's kind of out of the movies. anyone that goes near the patient will be completely in kind of a space suit with a mask, gloved and there's no chance that they would come in direct contact with the secretions, which as everyone knows by now, it's really the secretions that transmit this virus, be it stool or vomit or saliva. which is less likely, or blood. so the chances are extremely slim that they would actually come in contact. they're using very, very strict decontamination precautions. >> and we're now seeing -- we're taking a look at the video that we showed just a few moments ago, whi

with the nearby cdc. dr. jay very key is an infectious disease specialist at emory university hospital. he says he's confident that the facility can handle the disease. >> i truly believe in the practices we have in place and i have no specific my personal safety or my colleagues. >> the doctors will wear protective suits. ebola virus can only be transmitted through close contact and bodily fluids. cdc points out the chance of ebola spreading to the workers and operators in the us is highly unlikely. doctors say brantly's chances of survival at emory are much higher than they would be in west avenue from today. >> we can deliver a higher level of care and substantially higher level of support to optimize the likelihood those patients will survive. >> doctors say there known cures for vaccines for the virus they can only help the body fight the disease itself. >> well, for now the cdc says the only way to fight ebola is to stop it at its source. the agency's emergency

the cdc is sending 50 more people to the region in the next month. dr.xon just returned from two tours in the remote part of guinea. where she was trying to help control the outbreak. >> one day we were removed from that area because there were rumors that a group of young men would be coming to destroy the treatment center because they wanted to destroy ebola. >> reporter: she says that situation never escalated. but it shows the kind of hurdles and confusion the health workers face there. here in the united states, a different sort of confusion. different questions. for example, if ebola is not airborne, then why were there such extraordinary precautions taken for dr. kent brantley and miss wrightbol? turns out it was an abundance of caution rather than a necessity. >> we're pretty confident that any large hospital could handle an ebola case if one were to show up at their doorstep, using traditional isolation rooms with negative pressure room and with traditional droplet and respiratory precautions. >> reporter: and while i suited up in multiple layer

some samples were sent to the cdc. a man from saudi arabia, who died from those symptoms, did not have the virus. the man, 40 years old, he died last week after returning from a region in africa that had seen an outbreak of the virus. cdc is conducting additional tests to further confirm the negative results and see if another virus might be to blame. to date, he was the only person in saudi arabia infected. outbreak in west africa was the topic of a recent hearing on capitol hill. the head of the cdc testified about what they're doing to monitor the situation. the committee also heard from two missionary groups working in west africa, that included two american to later contracted ebola. they are now being monitored and treated in the u.s. so far, over 900 people have died. this hearing is 2.5 hours. >> the subcommittee will come to order. good afternoon to everyone. i called this emergency hearing during recess to address a grave answer is health threat which has in recent weeks ripped the mass media and heighten publ

it's not an easy task for the workers of the cdc. there needs to be more aid and more bodies on the drowned. they are also stressing that there is no health risk here in the united states, and it's goal for the infected countries after the spread is halted to leave lined a strong infrastructure. >> so they can be peter prepared the next time to detect unusual situation and respond quickly so there does not get to be the outer control situation that we are experiencing. >> that will take a lot of money. a lot of health professionals and a lot of scientists on the ground, right? >> as part of the president's budget there is money that has been asked for specifically what we call global health security. we see this as an investment in other countries so they are prepared. >> the "world health organization" is calling a panel of medical emphasis to meet next week and discuss an experimental serum that was used on two medical mission near missionaries now undergoing treatment here in atlanta. >> today is the last day of african fashion wee

the cdc now on the highest alert. the world health organization considering an international public health emergency. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening, everyone i'm erin burnett. we begin with the breaking news. the president of the united states just wrapping up a news conference. he used the strongest language ever against hamas. >> it is important to remember that hamas acts extraordinarily irresponsibly when it is deliberate deliberately siting rocket launchers in population centers. >> i want to get to jim acosta who was at the news conference. what more did the president say? that was very direct at the heart of the matter here, hamas using human shields. >> absolutely that's right. he started off by talking about he was asked about israel and whether its activities in gaza have been proportionate and justified, and he basically went right after hamas and accused the militant group of being what he called extraordinarily irresponsible in launching rocket attacks from certain areas, suggested that was the re

and this unit that the cdc is overseeing, we're able to isolate him, study the ebola virus, and figure out how to treat it in other. . >> i think they're very courageous, they're people to be admired. they take their job and their oath as a physician and a healer and a health care provider to take care of people even under extraordinary circumstances. you know, we have that kind of experience, myself personally in the very early years of the hiv aids pandemic, when we were taking care of patients when we had no idea, what this was, how it's transmitted or things like that. it's what you do, it's your job as a physician. >> populated areas, areas that are porous borders and very poor health care infrastructures, and very poor health care things like washing their bodies, that's one of the reasons it spreads there and worvelt spread here. >> it's such a noble cause going over there and being an american doctor and treating it. should we worry? >> the reason we got so many e-mails and americans are concerned, we have a second doctor that's probably going to come monday morning, so we have

>> no, we are working closely with the cdc and making sure that we are observing necessary protocols screening. and the good news the experts said you are not contagious unless are you exhibiting symptoms. we will be monitor the situation but are confident that the summit will be a success and take the precautions that are necessary. >> mayor bloomberg are you involved in the summit. what is your goal? >> the goal is to explain to americans the opportunity and american businesses the opportunity in africa to explain to the african continent why they should look to america for commerce, for education, for medical care. and we can be real partners rather than just being a patron of one another. >> some of the fastest growing emerging markets in the world are in africa. >> china has understood this. and people think of africa as a resource play. there are great natural resources that china and america needs as does europe as well. but there's a potential for selling a lot of things. the scale is big out. and china looked at it and said this is a place where because they are spending the

first, we need to expand the efforts of the cdc. there is no reason to think what they have done around health care associated infections they can't do in other areas like embolism or medication errors that can partner with the fda. the cdc has a phenomenal care record, this is a public health problem, the cdc is our public health agency. they have a central role to play. the country is in the midst of digitizing our records system, we have seen phenomenal progress in adopting any use of electronic health records. that has a lot of potential but the potential won't be realized unless those tools are focused on improving patient safety. the tools themselves won't automatically do it and we need to make that a priority and there are specific things the administration and congress can do in that ariane the third is incentives. we can't continue to have unsafe medical care be a regular part of the way we do business in health care and care is an important role to play. medicare has an important role to play. the aca takes important steps

the cdc is getting a ton of phone calls right now to the quarantine service. that's very, very hard. they have 20 quarantine centers at airports around the country. the shear volume of the calls is a problem. >> dr. siegel, the president was asked about this yesterday. what is the latest with that, the treatment given to brantly and writebol? >> it appears to be working. the key is appears. this is not clinical trials. the world health organization is putting together a team of bioethicists to examine whether this should be given in west africa. dr. fauci said the key would be to study this and other antiviral drugs before producing it on a mass scale. >> as always, doctor, thank you. >> thanks, bret. >> see the full interview with dr. freeden from the cdc on my blog, the daily bret.com. >>> up next, the effort to rescue a fragile democracy in afghanistan. fox affiliates around the country are covering these tonight. a guilty verdict for a suburban homeowner who killed a drunk unarmed woman on his porch last year. theodore wafer said he acted in self-defense.

tonight we go inside the war room at the cdc. >>> out of nowhere. a violent deluge cuts off entire towns, stranding hundreds of kids at summer camp. >>> james brady, remembering the man struck by a bullet meant for the president, who later become a champion for gun safety. >>> and kelly tough. the pride of buffalo in the fight of his life opening up about what inspires him to stay strong. "nbc nightly news" begins now. >>> good evening. tonight in new york city, camera crews started descending on mount sinai hospital based on a report that a patient had arrived there with symptoms that were potentially consistent with the ebola virus. the patient had recently traveled to west africa. officials have just held a press conference. they say ebola is unlikely in this case. but this is the kind of thing that's going to keep happening in this country. the new york incident one of nearly two dozen cases of suspicion of ebola symptoms in emergency rooms in this country in just the past week. in a moment we'll go to dr. nancy snyderman who will take us through

the cdc issuing highest level alert for outbreak. the death toll soaring past 900, over 1,000 confirmed cases and the outbreak may have spread to four continents. the world health organization is considering declaring international health emergency after 108 new cases were confirmed over the weekend. jonathan joins us live from atlanta where two americans are currently treated for the deadly disease, jonathan? >> the last time the cdc moved emergency operation center to level one was in 2009. that was during the h1n1 flu pandemic going on then. the highest alert level of the cdc and mobilized resources across the agency to respond to the ebola outbreak in africa. cdc officials say this does not mean americans are at increased risk at home but more resources are needed to address outbreak in a part of africa that never experienced ebola before and got a late start in diagnosing and isolating victims to prevent the virus from spreading. lessons learned moving forward, listen. develop cdc modeled after the american cdc to respond to the

>> i think the cdc is keeping them under very, very tight isolation. the people treating them are probably wearing the equivalent of a space suit. they're certainly protecting their hands, eyes, and may be wearing respirators and keeping them in an area where there won't be other -- other patients aren't going to be kept. probably having a negative pressure room might be a good idea, too. >> the argument for bringing them here is to get to the bottom of the ebola thing here. hospitals are better, doctors such as yourself are just better at what they do. so, that is one argument for bringing them here, so they can study it here. but what is to prevent me from fearing that the genie is out of the petri dish here and it could get bad fast. >> there might be people here we don't know about which are of greater concern than the one wes know about, and the recent scandal at the cdc if difficulty containing pathogens. these diseases are just a big threat, and so we really need to be very concerned, and more concerned about the ones that are not under the cdc's

in mecca according to the cdc 75,000 die annually from infections. now we already know a lot about how to reduce these deaths. the simplest things like better hand washing, room cleaning led to reduce these infections. boston children's hospital which treats some of the sickest children in the world has had terrific success to implement steps like these. boston children's has not had one single case of ventilator associated ammonia in the cardiac ico in nearly -- i see with nearly two years and not as simple catheter ut i in the medical icu for over two years. knowing how to make patients safer unfortunately it is not happening everywhere we need a system in place. so my question is this. knu help us understand why certain health care entities have not yet adopted straightforward proven techniques to reduce these infections? >> fundamentally that question in front of us is how we have an industry where we have cheap and easy interventions that save lives, save money and not every single person uses every single day? there is a disconnect. it strikes m

the cdc raises its response to the highest level.e you inside the ebola war room as we standby for remarks from president obama. we expect him to talk about this deadly epidemic. we want o welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >>> let's get to the breaking news. tonight the equivalent of a red alert in the ebola crisis. the cdc in atlanta, georgia, now ratcheting up emergency operation center to level one. that's the highest level in response to the biggest outbreak of the deadly disease in history. we're standing by for a news conference by president obama. we expect him to talk about the ebola crisis among other things he will be talking about the fe fears of the disease spreading from africa too the united states, to europe and elsewhere. our correspondents are standing by. they are covering all the breaking news here in the united states and around the world. as we await the president of the united states, let's go to our chie

the cdc now expanding to 50 experts in the region. >> i'm very concerned. this is going to take an intensive, long effort. this is a marathon, not a sprint. >> reporter: around the world, mounting jitters over air travel. there are direct flights from the impact zone to more than 30 countries. in china special airport scanners check the temperatures of arriving passengers. in this airport anyone with a temperature exceeding 99.5 degrees gets a blood test. here in the united states, immigration officers scan faces for signs of illness. incoming pilots required to report passengers who appear ill to cdc quarantine stations in 20 ports of entry. this unassuming office here may be the first place the cdc takes someone they're worried about. they put them in here in this room with a bed, close the door and keep them in isolation. >> this is our go bag. we take this to our response. >> reporter: trained medical officers based in the terminal prepared to rush to any passenger exhibiting signs of illness. >> you are normal, 93.5. >> without even touching me you got

the cdc has now increased the emergency response to the ebola epidemic reserved only for the worst outbreaks. >> hurricane warning in hawaii. a rare occurrence. two storms in a row. one right behind the other. and tonight millions are preparing. >> flight breach. how did a woman with no ticket, no boarding pass and no business flying on a plane manage to get on board and fly to l.a.? >> and an aspirin a day does it dramatically reduce the risk of cancer? dr. nancy snyderman tonight with the big medical headline. "nightly news" begins now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. >>> good evening. the centers for disease control tonight elevated the ebola virus to level 1 status. and here's what that means. it is their highest level of mobilization reserved for their largest scale response requiring an agency wide effort. because the outbreak is now officially out of control. and because it now extends to nigeria and has the potential to affect so many more lives. so far the ebola virus has taken 932 lives and this is a major escalation

tim mcafee of the cdc office on smoking and health, mr. mrs. heller of the fda's center for tobacco parts to talk about the ongoing public health challenge posed by both. they will also report on the board community-based and regulatory work in those agencies that are engaged in this. and now i will turn to senator alexander for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome to the witnesses. congress passed the law to which senator harkin referred, the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act almost five years ago. it clearly was taking a position to discourage the use of tobacco products. what has happened since then, run 18 percent of adults still smokes cigarettes, that is down from 20% in 2010. smoking among youth continues to decline. electronic cigarettes have grown rapidly. the number of adult smokers who tried e-cigarette doubled between 2010 and 11. i am going to focus mostly on the so-called teaming regulation proposed two weeks ago by the fda, but i did want to first read some statistics about the center for toba

immediate results and report it to the cdc . >> i'm all for that. that is not the way it is being done. to be clear, blood samples sense to atlanta, then tests are done, there is a day or two delay. that is how it is handled. i prefer it were handled on the site. chances it is small, someone in weswest africa now, they are rez these stories, and they have fever and diarrhea, and they say, maybe i have ebola, and they go to the hospital, and say, how do we know they don't have ebola. it will probably be negative. lou: the hospital in atlanta, emory hospital, now treating dr. brantley and will soon be treating the nurse, how safe do you think that is? did politics play a part in it with the african summit, we're watching something manageed by cdc . >> answer your second first, poly i think that approximately ticks did play a -- i think that politics did play a role, cdc report along with it, now they are making it as safe as possible, having said that, i think it is safe, cdc did not call shots on this they went with it, but they made it safe because t

so the cdc is pretty confident. how much you'll get into with the president in this news conference, though. >> if you don't mind me pursuing something. it's raised hackles among the business community the president, the treasury department, a slap down the provision, aversion provision that takes, allows companies to take advantage of lower tax codes abroad and just by executive edict or in this case treasury department ruling disallows it makes its illegal. that's not sitting well. >> i can imagine. we'll cover it as well. i think it's a huge story. there's a potential -- >> wait a minute, are you invading my business nerdy turf? one at a time. >> i know. i know. they record my show. they watch yours over on that other channel. but, you know, it is a big deal. it's a big story, neil. the president could very well be asked about that. corporate taxes, how this administration is handling that is a huge story. but as you know also on the plate all these foreign policy hot spots blowing up. you have the situation in a

is very low, but in an age where a deadly disease could be only one plane ride away the cdc has cautioned healthcare providers to be extra vigilant of patients returning to the united states from west africa. >> ebola and the other diseases that have come roaring out of the tropics, can you stop a disease in its tracks before the virus infects larger and larger numbers, in countries where they are already heavily burdened. here to talk about this disease, dr. anthon my guests. dr. quigley, is there any intelligence coming out of the west africa that gives an idea why there was this sudden spike in a number of cases? >> well certainly the media has propagated a lot of the information that's available locally. i think the fact that as your report indicated some americans have been contaminated has heightened the awareness, and it's difficult to sort out fact from fiction for some of these circumstances, and it's hard to get to the bottom of your question. >> doctor, there are ebola cases going on in an on going basis in west africa. what set of circumstances conspires to have a sudden jump

the cdc has issued the highest alert. some airlines suspends plights to contain the rest. 1700 have died and more than 900 have died. a priest contracted the virus was airlifted home to stain. six other staff at the same hospital where they worked have been infected and now the hospital have been shutdown. liberia and sarah lee own set up military blockades but there is more help coming. at left 50 health workers are being sent in the to the region by the cdk with backup support here at home will it be enough to stop the spread of the contagion? here is "america tonight" lori jane. >> reporter: as the death toll continues to inch towards 1,000 people in west africa. fear is also rising in the u.s. and overseas. in liberia some are abandoning the dead in the streets and in this case, a man close to passing. security check point have been set up. blocking people traveling to and from the capital to get supplies. so many are unindicated about the disease. unprepared and afraid. >> we can stop ebola. we know how to do it. it

the cdc is issuing the highest alert, level one.s is for the most serious public health emergencies. this is in response to the deadly virus in west africa. president obama is trying to keep everyone calm. >> despite the fact we have to take it seriously, it is important to remind ourselves, this is not an airborne disease. this is one that can be controlled and contained very effectively, if we use the right protocols. >> meantime, the fda approved the unapproved test for ebola. in terms of a vaccine, we don't have one. it's at least a year away. the two americans infected with ebola, they are showing signs of recovery, that is good news. in a hospital where they are being treated, they got an experimental serum. that may be working. in west africa, it's spreading with breathtaking speed. 1700 confirmed cases in guinea, nigeria, liberia and sierra leone. a state of emergency has been declared, troops called in to quarantine all the ebola victims. the impact is being felt globally. a man in saudi arabia died after visiting sierra le

it was bimt in collaboration with the cdc about 12 years ago. as everything separate from the rest of the hospital. the own patient room, the laboratory, even its own air filtration system. they say they're not going to release the patients until they're 100% certain there's not a risk of transmitting the symptoms. once you don't have the symptoms you're not contagious. the cdc going to be careful before releasing them. >> joining me now is an infectious disease specialist. thank you for your time. as i mentioned the cdc held the q & a answering questions. you have, for example, dr. donald -- opposed to bringing the patients to the united states. they're here now. let me play what he said and your reaction as a medical professional to these types of concerns. let's play it. >> okay. >> they could have taken the medical equipment and the experiment tal serum to africa and treat the patients there rather than bringing the patients here and potentially contaminating continental united states even though the risk is minuscule. >> it's a medical profe

the director of the cdc is on ebola willonfident not spread in the u.s., adding that americans should stay safe. marci gonzalez, abc news. >> parts of texas got hammered with more than six inches overnight. many locations have high water on the roads. some roads are even closed because of flooding. one look at that video and you can see why. >> wow. on rain.re, off and the rain is slow to move in. eeping from south sonora. i will show you one of our weatherbug network cameras. earlier this morning over to prince william county in woodbridge. you can see showers, damp pavement. a little wetness but nothing toong down to -- heavy. rockville, 70in seven downtown. 77 in annapolis. we might get to around 80 but some suburbs might not even client above 80. climb above 80. let's take a look outside. showers slowly lifting northward from southwest to northeast. a pocket of heavier rain towards front royal west of toky county. light to moderate showers. something to contend with throughout the afternoon. a snapshot from space. we are socked in. with the progression of this system lifting north

i talked with a senior person at the cdc. i won't name her, but she is a well-known person who told me that in the united states, if there was one person that had a level four infectious disease, they would have many hundreds of contacts to run down. there are no contacts being run down in liberia. i do not believe the liberian government, as well-intentioned as they are, and i do believe that they are well-intentioned i , just simply do not think that they have the capacity. i think that there needs to be something to augment their capacity. i think that there needs to be some kind of coordination unit. i've heard here today that the world health organization has the lead. maybe, maybe not. i think something with a bit more of an operational edge to it is called for. that may be some kind of a -- i do not know what that could be, but more is needed. i think that if we leave the situation up to the ministries of health -- when you have a unique situation where you have have aoor countries that communicable, infectious, and let

and we've heard the cdc mishandling anthrax, smallpox, are you absolutely confident that the cdc willmake sure this virus is handled properly and will not be spread? >> there were lapses in our laboratory. we identified them and reported them before anyone got harmed and before there was any release of anything into the community. but that shows the importance of being meticulous with infection control. we are doing that in our labs now. we are working around the clock to make them among the safest in the world. but it shows for healthcare workers, taking care of people with ebola or other infectious diseases it's important to beth infection control. ebola is not one of the most infectious diseases but because it's so deadly that the stakes are high that healthcare workers need to have a healthy fear and what can happen and turn that fear into action to make sure they take precaution and that everything is followed. >> we know this is a busy time for you, doctor, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and we want to turn to our own expert here at cbs news, dr. john lapook. thank you

and we're waiting to hear from the cdc director. keep an eye on that and see what new details we can gather about the threat and how it's going to be dealt with. >>> coming up, desperate plea from a dartmouth college student. she wants to carry a gun on campus. >> i deserve the right and that option. i deserve to feel safe and know if somebody did happen, i have the ability to protect myself. >> why that woman is living in constant fear and why she might drop out over the school's anti-gun policy. >>> a wildlife mystery. a bear walking on its hind legs or is it? >>> the white house now considering possible military and humanitarian options in iraq. to save tens of thousands of minority christians and others facing death and starvation at the hands of isis. the group has been trapped on a mountain top after driving them out of their homes. ed, i understand you just asked josh ernest about this whether america is going to intervene. >> reporter: i did, a whole bunch of people pressing, because this story is exploding this afternoon. yo