Ac360. Because people want to know, our doctors, health care officials, are they up to the challenge of a virus who kills more than half the people who catch it. So far, as Thomas Duncan arrived in dallas, at least part of the way on a United Airlines flight and were just learning possibly through washington Dulles Airport does not inspire complete confidence. There were some answers we would be getting from Public Health officials. First of all, why did this hospital where mr. Duncan is quarantined, initially turned him away, where he showed up with fever and vomits. He told the nurse he just came from liberia. The question is, did people at presbyterian texas hospital drop the ball . That is just one of many questions tonight. Seeking answers tonight, Elizabeth Cohen and dr. Sanjay gupta, and recovered ebola patient dr. Nancy writebol will join us later, as well. Mr. Duncan is in the hospital tonight. Take us through how he ended up there, the series of events. All right, anderson, lets start with september 20th which is when mr. Duncan arrived in the u. S. From liberia. He is a liberian national. He arrived, on september 25th, he is feeling ill at Presbyterian Hospital where i am and they sent him home. On september 28th, he visits again, this time in an ambulance and is isolated. On september 29th, a family friend feels things are not moving fast enough and they call the cdc. Now, ill tell you anderson, and i was talking to an official about this situation and he said look, this is clearly a screwup, that was his term. Clearly, somebody shows up with a fever and history of travel in liberia, you should immediately, do not pass go or collect 200, treat this person as an infection risk and dont let him out. And protect yourself. Apparently a nurse at the facility asked if he had recent travel to liberia or any infected country and he said yes, but were told that that sort of had gotten lost. That that piece of information was not passed on or got miscommunicated. And so his care team did not know about it. And moments ago, were told that mr. Duncan may have come in contact with 20 people. How much do we know about these people and if they had been tested for the virus. Right, we know they are five children who go to Elementary Schools and high schools in the various area. Were heard that some of them are ambulance drivers, the folks who brought him here on the second visit to presbyterian. We dont know about the rest of them. As far as the children goes, an official told me they were kin. We dont know exactly how theyre related but that they frequented the house often. And he was reportedly vomiting in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. And those have those people you said maybe that they had been tested. Are they being isolated . Well, here is the way that it works is that were told that all the contacts, ambulance drivers, family, et cetera. They dont have symptoms, that no one is sick yet. And anderson, by definition, you dont give an ebola test to a healthy person, because even if they get ebola the next day, it is just a feature of the test. There is no reason to test a Healthy Family member or ambulance driver. Theyre going to test negative. What theyre told to do is watch their health and take their temperature twice a day or perhaps even more frequently. Let me just understand this, if you have contracted ebola, and are infected with ebola but are not showing the signs of it because it develops for sometime, you will test negative . Right, and ill tell you a personal story. I arrived from liberia, my husband said lets test you for ebola. Lets just nip this in the bud, i want to know if you have it. I said im sorry, sweetie, i would love to get the test, but it doesnt exist. If you are healthy and the virus is growing, you will test negative. It is not sensitive enough to pick up the infection unless you have a lot of the virus in you. While you are healthy, if you are infected but youre not showing any signs you cannot then transmit the virus. It is not until you actually start to show the signs that you can start to transmit the virus. Elizabeth, well have more on this in the program. The people who came in contact with duncan, five school age kids, gary tuchman has been pursuing that part of the reporting. He is talking to a city that at least fair to say parts of it were on edge. We learned this is where Thomas Duncan was staying, an apartment complex in north dallas, where Authorities Say the liberian citizen said the man may have had contact with five children. Those children are duncans girlfriends children. They have talked to his girlfriend. They are home, doing well. The children as well, are doing fine. Again, all she asks is for her prayers. The five children go to four different schools in the neighborhood. The Sam Tasby Middle School immigrais one of them. One woman heard that at least some of the children could have been exposed to ebola, her son and daughter went to the school. So they went to pick them up. I got scared, i thought that the kid came to the school and probably has contact. I know it doesnt get contact by the air, but you never know. All five of the children who may have had contact with the man diagnosed with ebola are now staying out of school. But many of these parents, were told, those five parents were in school on tuesday. Maria garrado has children in the school. Im worried for my son and daughter and me. More than 3500 children are enrolled in the four schools so there are a lot of concerned families. Nobody can offer any guarantees. But the School District has told parents that the children are not in any imminent danger. All four schools are being cleaned and sanitized over the next four days but they will remain open. Parents are given papers that explain the situation in english and spanish, saying this morning were made aware that a student in your school may have had contact with an individual who was recently diagnosed with the ebola virus. Did that worry you . Are you scared . Yes, and i dont feel like going to School Tomorrow. Well, ill tell you and your mother, the person in the school doesnt have ebola, they were just near somebody who had it. So you dont have to worry, okay . Okay. Daisy and betsy are fourth grade twins. When you heard about this ebola, what did you think . We got scared. Youre twins and you talk at the same time. Theyre taking good care of you. The students here do not have ebola, you know that, right . Yes. Okay, are you coming back to School Tomorrow . Yes. They really do talk at the same time. It sounds like a number of parents you talked to are at least thinking about keeping their kids home from school. None of the parents we talk to, anderson, say definitely they will keep their kids out of School Tomorrow but many of them are on the fence. I mean, keep in mind, this is the first time this exact situation has played out in an american school. In addition, this situation, though, many of the parents at the schools speak little or no english. Theyre afraid that some of it could get lost in translation. Theyre bewildered like anybody would be, but because they dont speak english, it makes it more acute. We dont want to cause anymore panic or anything like that. The kids who went to the school at least they dont have signs of having ebola. They just came in contact with somebody who does, and unless they showed signs they wouldnt be able to transmit it to anybody else. There is no way they would have transmitted it if they were not showing signs. Now, president obama expressed confidence that the Public Health system could meet the ebola challenge. Were working to help flight crews identify people who are sick, and more labs across our country now have the capacity to quickly test for the virus. Were working with hospitals to make sure that they are prepared and to make sure our doctors and nurses and medical staff are trained and ready to deal with a possible case safely. Well, that confidence, that assessment now appears at best premature, at worst unfounded. Chief medical expert dr. Sanjay gupta has more. It seems like there were major missteps on how it was handled. Youre at the cdc now, how did they handle this . Reporter this is an historic day, a patient being diagnosed in this country. This is the first time it ever happened outside of africa. And im sure when they look back on this, this is not how they expected or wanted it to go. The biggest misstep was a patient went in with very, very clear signs of concern about ebola. And was turned away, as you have talked about. I talked to dr. Frieden about this exact scenario just a bit ago and asked him about it. Take a listen closely to what he said. What is the guidance, should that person have been tested . We were not there, so i cant tell you exactly what that person said. Youre advising the Public Health departments, last time i was here there was a call with many primary care doctors to educate them on this exact issue. That was a couple of months ago, should this person have been tested . We know that in busy departments all over the country, people may not ask travel histories, i need to make sure that it is done going forward. That is the bottom line. That is dr. Frieden, the head of the cdc, anderson, they have been doing this drill for months, they said look, what is the United States doing to prepare . We know it will happen in some future time. What are you doing to prepare . One of the first things they say is figure out who is at risk and make sure they get tested. That was 101. Clearly, he seems to be avoiding answering the question, being put on the spot. But a family friend of this patient said they informed the hospital he had been to liberia, clearly, somebody there dropped the ball. New information, the patient may have traveled to dulles, in washington, d. C. The patients there were not at risk, he was not showing symptoms on the plane . Yes, that is right. In liberia they would do a screening ahead of time which involves a questionnaire. They would ask questions, somebody would develop a fever early on even before they develop significant symptoms. Given that he didnt have a fever and was still healthy after he landed in dallas, it is unlikely that he would have actually had any kind of transmission to other passengers. Let me just say, anderson, i was over in west africa, i cover a lot of these stories. I do a lot of homework, i come home, i have three kids in my house. I wanted to make sure professional and personally i wasnt going to transmit the virus to my family. I wanted to understand that unless somebody on the plane where i traveled was sick, i was not going to be at risk. You transmit the virus when there is enough virus to make you sick, then it is in the bodily fluids, then you start to excrete, somebody is not sick, theyre not dispensing the virus. I felt comfortable with that fact on the plane and others should feel that way as well. Make sure you set your dvr, coming up next, one of the only americans who contracted and survived the disease, nancy writebol, talks about the crucial days ahead for Thomas Duncan. She joins me with her husband. Later, what could be the dress rehearsal for the big one, a leading expert next on ebola and similar diseases, well be right back. With the virtual freedom of wifi. Chevrolet, the first and only car company to bring builtin 4g lte wifi to cars, trucks and crossovers. Hi mom. 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The hospital said there was no reason to admit him. If anyone knows what he is going through right now is nancy writebol. She contracted the virus in liberia and was treated successfully there in atlanta as she joins us tonight with her husband, david. Nancy, you have been free of ebola for more than a month now, you look great, i understand you are still taking medication, how do you feel . I feel good, thank you. Im getting stronger every day. And just continuing to regain my strength. When you heard that a patient had been diagnosed with ebola here in the United States, in texas, what was your reaction, what did you think . Well, anderson, i was not surprised. You know, we live in such a small world that it is very easy to travel from one country to another. And so it didnt take me by surprise. Im very thankful that he is here and that he could receive medical care and that our doctors know what theyre dealing with. For you, as you look back on your treatment it was coming to the United States, you believe that really saved your life. And there was a lot of attention on the zmapp, on the serum that you got. But youre not clear that that is actually what did it. You think a lot of the followon care in the United States may have been what actually saved you. Yes, you know, the medical care that we received was amazing at emory. And also, not only the care, i mean, they were able to check what was happening daily and hourly in our bodies. And so that is just not possible in a third world country where lab work takes sometimes hours to get back. And so youre right, the care that we received here was critical to us in our recovery. But you know, we dont know how much the zmapp played into that. David, what about for you, when you heard this. It must have brought back obviously scary memories when your wife was battling the virus. You yourself were quarantined, as well. Well, yes, i was saddened to hear that. And our hearts and our prayers go out to the family concerning that condition. And yet we just wish them well and hope i hope for a speedy recovery and that the doctors and the nurses and his treatment will go well and that he will be able to survive. Nancy, do you think it is inevitable that there will be more cases . And i bring this up not to sew fear, but were learning now this patient exhibited symptoms of ebola, sought treatment at a dallas hospital. According to friends of his, they say they informed the doctors at the hospital he was from liberia. I ask the question, to know if doctors are really looking out for this situation as they should be. Well, i think it has brought another awareness to the situation and to the problem of people presenting themselves at medical hospitals where doctors and nurses need to be on alert of the fact that patients are and that people are traveling. And that it is very possible for someone to walk into an emergency room or into a hospital to receive care and i think again, its another way to bring awareness to the fact that we need to be on alert. Do you think it is possible we might have more cases . I think it is possible. What do you want people to know about ebola, people in the United States. Because there is a lot of fear, obviously, and a lot of it is understandable. But this is new in the United States. What do you want people to know about it . Well, again, i think people need to recognize and to remember it is not airborne. And you know the way that it is transmitted is through bodily fluids. And so that is something that you know, even in our own minds we have to remember, okay, this is not airborne. And i think that that will help people to not have as great a fear. And i think, too, that if they know somebody that is exhibiting symptoms that look like ebola to get help immediately. Dont wait thinking, oh, this is just the flu, im going to wait. Or you know, im just not getting really any better. Dont wait to seek out medical help. Nancy writebol and her husband, dave. As always for more on these stories and others, go to cnn. Com. Coming up next, why some believe that ebola may not be the worst we face in the coming years, it is only a dress rehearsal. And now more on kids infected with a disease, and what you need to watch out for. People with type 2 diabetes come from all walks of life. If you have high blood sugar, ask your doctor about farxiga. Its a different kind of medicine that works by removing some sugar from your body. Along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. With one pill a day, farxiga helps lower your a1c. And, although its not a weightloss or bloodpressure drug, farxiga may help you lose weight and may even lower Blood Pressure when used with certain diabetes medicines. 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Well, the strain of ebola, thank goodness, does not spread like small pox or even the flu, thank goodness. And the question is how prepared are countries including the United States prepared against such a disease. And second, how does ebola mutate to a strain that can spread more easily from person to person . His upcoming book is ebola, the <