Two months the number of new ebola cases in begin yi, liberia and sierra leone could skyrocket to up to 10,000 a week. Current think are about 1,000 new cases a week. Theyre saying by december, it could be 10,000 a week. Keep in mind there have been just under 9,000 ebola cases total so far in west africa. So that is an ominous warning. The World Health Organization, the who, also said today that the mortality rate in this outbreak is now at 70 which up is from earlier estimates of 50 when it started. Outside of west africa, a u. N. Worker being treated in germany now died. He contracted ebola while working in liberia but clearly the problem has spread just beyond the hot zone in west africa. Here in the United States, good news from the university of kansas hospital where medic who worked on a ship off the coast of africa has been in isolation since yesterday. Preliminary Lab Tests Show he does not have ebola. More extensive testing will be done to try done firm that. Now also today, there is more breaking news from the head of the cdc who were going to talk on this program who said its putting together a Response Team to be able to handle any new confirmed cases at any hospital in the country. He said a team like that might have prevented a nurse near dallas from contracting the disease. I spoke with the director a short time ago. As i said, ill bring that you interview in a moment. First, the latest from our senior medical correspondent who is also here with me. What is the latest . She was upgraded from stable to good. So thats wonderful. It really speaks to when you get quick treatment for ebola, it really helps. She was hospitaled within 90 minutes of feeling sick. Within two days she got a blood transfusion. That saul terrific. That is really critical. Weve known that for a long time from the way patients were treated. We heard that from doctors. If you get to the patients early, thats critical. Absolutely. That really is critical. And that was not the case with Thomas Eric Duncan. He passed away. Do we know for a fact that this blood transfusion that she got from dr. Brantley, that that is whats contributing to her doing well . We cant say for sure . We cant say for sure. No one has done Clinical Trials or studies. But the World Health Organization does, you know, tell the hospitals that they can do this. They instruct them how to do it. A doctors ive talked to are confident it works. We cant know for here is. And dr. Brantley has done it for two other patients. Nina pham made a statement today. She d she said im doing well and want to thank everyone for their wishes and prayers. Im blessed by the support of family and friends and blessed to be cared for about it best team of doctors and nurses in the world here at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in dallas. I appreciate the update. There say lot to get to in this hour. He wished there was an ebola Response Team on the ground the day that Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed but there will be a team like that from now on as soon as patients are diagnosed as testing positive. If there are any more cases in the United States swreshgs. We have a lot more to discuss. Here is that interview. When we learn that nina pham contracted ebola, you said it was because of a breech of protocol. Do you know right now how she was infected . Were not sure how she was infected. Were intensively looking at. That were not waiting for the results of our investigation. Were immediately changing any procedures that we think can be improved to increase the safety of those caring for her. So what procedures need to be improved . I know there is a surge of personnel coming to this hospital from cdc. You put in new protocols in place. What are you improving . The first is putting in a sight manager, someone that o r oversees and makes sure that everyone takes off and puts on the equipment correctly and monitors everything correctly. There was no one doing that at the hospital previously . There wasnt a single individual accountable for that. Thats a critical role. That is there now. The second is training, retraining and support for staff and weve brought two nurses from emory as well as our own staff to do. That and the third is limiting the number of staff who go in to those who are fwhes to go in to the isolation area. You said you put more hands on personnel on the ground when Thomas Duncan arrived, why didnt la happen . We sent out the same night a large Public HealthResponse Team that included people to help with Contact Tracing and identify all of the 48 people that have not developed fever and ebola are mostly through the risk period. We helped make sure there was a systematic process in place to manage the response and we sent some Infection Control expertise but 20 20 hindsight, i wish we sent more. Why wasnt nurse pham considered to be increase the risk for infection . I would have assumed all the personnel in the hospital who had direct contact in duncans treatment would have been assumed to be at increased risk. She wasnt being monitored by officials. She was just taking basically her own temperature. The system there was to make sure she was monitored and she was. As soon as she developed fever and symptoms, she notified people shechlt came in before her fever went up very high. So she had at most one person who she exposed because of that monitoring system. 48 in the case blf duncan. One in her case. Our chief medical correspondent last night on our broadcast, he showed us thou put on and remove the person protective equipment according to cdc protocols from the website, gown, masks, gloves that, Health Care Workers while treating an ebola patient. And he was surprised that the guidelines dont require workers to be covered head to toe number skin showing. It talks about from the neck to the knees. It doesnt even have covering suggest that they have covering for their feet which they do in west africa. Ynt is that part of the recommendations . Do those need to be updated . What were looking at is making sure that it depends on a situation. So if youre going in to a patient who is having vomiting and diarrhea, that is a very different set. You need someone who is not having those symptoms. But in any case, we know that what protective is preventing any contact and that can be done with meticulous Infection Control and variety of different protective equipment. But shouldnt every part of the skin on the body be covered . Weve looked at that question. Weve taken care of many patients with ebola without having every piece of the skin covered. But thats something that well look at. Were you surprised when you learned that some 76 personnel inside this hospital here in dallas may have had some form of contact or handling some fluids of Thomas Eric Duncan . That seems like an extraordinarily high number of people with such an infectious patient. He went through very complex care in his final days. So a lot of people were needed for that care. As you may recall, the very first day before we knew the number one of oufr immediate recommendations was limit to the absolute minimum the number of people who go in. You want to provide infective care but you doan want to have more people than necessary go in both to predeuce the potential exposed number and so that those people get more comfortable and confident and infective at putting on, taking on and working in protective equipment. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you very much. As the director of the cdc mentioned, i its unclear how nina pham was infected with ebola. That is critical. Detectives interviewed her and thought there was inconsistencies in her protective gear in how she put it on and off. Want to show that you demonstration by dr. Sanjay gupta. It really brings home how easily contamination could occur when taking off the suits. Want to show you how im going to take this protective equipment off. Im also going to put a possible ebola contamination on my hand. Take a look. This is the mask. So heres the most likely contaminated area. We do my gloves. And the front of my gown like this. Okay, now i have i have to treat this as if im potentially contaminated. I come out. What im going to do with this particular gown. Im going to rip it all off together. Everything will come off simultaneously. Par of the glove brushed against my arm there. That could potentially be an exposure. The glove didnt come off properly, i would reach underneath here as best i could and get underneath. There but perhaps if i didnt do it exactly right, there could be another potential exposure there. Im reaching behind now. But lets say the side of my face shield is contaminated and i touched here. That could potentially be an exposure. Same thing with the facemask. So now take a look. Right there, see chocolate sauce, possible exposure and over here on my neck one possible exposure. Sanjay joins me now. Sanjay, i mean i just think its so instrumental watching you take that stuff off. You hear the cdc director says it depends on what patient youre dealing with and what suit you wear, do you think i mean does one size fit all . Should all skin be covered . You know, i really do think so. Id be curious what situations dr. Freedman was referring to. We know in west africa that the standard is to cover up all parts of the skin. We know at emory, for example, where they brought dr. Brantley, i suited up with those guys. They cover all parts of the skin. There is a tradeoff, the more garb you put on, the harder it is to do your job and draw blood and take care of patients. You also have more chances for error every time you add another step. But this basic idea that ebola is so infectious that even a small amount of it on your skin anywhere can cause an infection, it sound like the answer sort of obvious. Cover up the skin. And i made this point last night. Doctors without borders, theyve been taking care of patients with ebola in tough conditions for decades. Up until this year, they never a case of a patient transmitting the virus to a health care provider. The United States has had the first patient diagnosed with ebola ever in the United States and that patient transmitted. One patient transmitted the virus to a health care provider. So you can look at what works, what doesnt work and i think there are real lessons to be learned here. Yeah. I mean even though on the cdc website, i doesnt specify the shoes have to be covered. That is something that could get contaminated. Were you surprised to find out that this hospital they didnt have a site manager actually responsible for kind of, you know, standing back and watching the procedures being done which now the cdc tut a site manager in place. Were you surprised that wasnt already in place . That is surprising. So many hospital as cross the country have this key person, Infection Control person. Theyre really central figure in making sure that infections dont occur in the hospital and also asking the crucial questions like does it take 76 patients . We know hes very sick s there any way we can reduce that number . It seems obvious this is something the cdc is doing, limit the number of people attending to a patient. To 1r7 6 people potentially exposed, thats a huge number. Its a really big number. When a patient is that sick and intensive care unit, it does take very many people to look after them. Think about all the different types of specialists they have. All the types of nurses, pharmacists, people that do ultra sounds. It really does add up. Having that site manager say is there any way we can reduce this is key. Look, he doesnt want to bash this hospital. He has to work with them. The important thing is that they all Work Together and that theyre all on one team here. It is important to point out what has ands into the worked. It is the test case for other hospitals throughout the United States. From step one. From when this Patient First arrived to the hospital with some symptoms and this travel history from west africa. What exactly transpired now with nurse pham getting infected . How exactly that happened . That is obviously a huge problem. Again, these are as much as we talk about vaccine trials and experiment alt medications and the blood transfusions, what were describing here is the basics. Describing here is the basics. That is the 101 sort of stuff. And you know it just does not work here. If there is good news from this, hopefully other places can learn from this mistake and it wont happen again. Yeah, well, we certainly hope for and are watching carefully. Dr. Yasmin, thank you. Set your dvd so you can watch cnn whenever you want. And how one friend is helping nina and her family, well learn more from her friend. Also coming up, were reporting there are only really four facilities in the United States that are fully equipped to deal with ebola. You will be surprised to learn just how few beds are actually available to treat patients in those facilities. Drew griffin investigates ahead. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. Dad hes our broker. He helps looks after all our money. Kid do you pay him . Dad of course. Kid how much . Dad i dont know exactly. Kid what if youre not happy . Does he have to pay you back . Dad nope. Kid why not . Dad it doesnt work that way. Kid why not . Vo are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management at Charles Schwab a wakeup call. But its not happening out there. Its happening in here. [ sirens wailing ] inside of you. Even if youre treating your Crohns Disease or ulcerative colitis, an occasional flare may be a sign of damaging inflammation. Learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis. Com. And then speak with your gastroenterologist. For over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. So i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Sweered lobstersory endless shrimp ends soon the years largest variety. Like new spicy siriacha shrimp, or parmesan shrimp scampi. As much as you like, any way you like. But it wont last long, so hurry in today. And sea food differently. Welcome back, we are live in dallas, now a ac360 exclusive, where one of nina phams best friends, we got this picture from her friend since third grade. Theyre very close, obviously, they went to grade school and high school together. And for family and friends, this is not just another case of ebola, even though the case has the attention of the whole country. For them, their friend is sick, and her friend has set up a fund, gofundme, ninapham, dallas, thank you for joining us. Absolutely. What is nina like . Nina is an absolutely incredible young woman. She is a woman of great heart and incredible spirit. It is so cool you have been friends since third grade, there are not many people you remain friends with that long. We have been very close, she is that person youre always striving to be. She is that person that has the infectious laugh of course, anybody with a strange laugh she has a wonderful laugh, she laughs even when your jokes are not that funny. Is that right . Yes. I heard you say that she laughs just to make you feel good, and is not good at being mean to people. She is terrible, terrible at being sarcastic, sorry, nina, she is an incredibly kind and wonderful person. Did she always want to be a nurse . She had first and second dreams of being a fashion designer, but in fourth grade we met in third grade, that was in fourth grade we had career day. It didnt surprise you that she actually became a nurse . She is a people person. You are also very close to her family . Yes. They have helped you in tough times as well. Absolutely, any time that my family has struggled with a death in the family or any tough times, one time we came out on the porch and there was an entire ham on the porch. Theyre always talk toing to us, making sure her dog is okay. One thing we wanted to tell people, they dont need to fear their dog will be killed if theyre being taken care of. I hope i do him justice, his name is bentley, she calls him bently boo. She is adorable. Nina had been forward to looking out just so she could have her own dog and bentley was that dog. He was part of a litter of dogs, pack of dogs rescued from a puppy mill. To save them from euthanasia, she said, i want one of those dogs. I talked to the mayor of dallas, they said for them this is a very private matter but theyre also aware there is a lot of interest in this and a lot of attention. Is there anything else you want people to know about your friends. I want them to know that she is that best friend that you have in your whole life, youre trying to live up to be like her. To be that caring and loving and selfless and there for you. She is that person, she is not just another news story, she is somebodys best friend. Your best friend. And i remember i heard you saying also she is very meticulous and has always been . Yes, in middle school we always needed things handwritten for the class, it was always nina we went to. So organized. Have you talked to her . I personally, i wanted to make sure, i said this. I personally have not been in physical contact with nina for four months, i have not seen her since june. We have spoken since then, though, what i know is pretty much what everybody else knows. Certainly everybodys thoughts and prayers with her and her family, thank you so much, for being with us, and if youre interested in the gofundme page, ill tweet that out as well. I certainly appreciate you being with us. Is it okay, i wanted to thank everybody so far who donated for their contributions . There is a lot more audit in this hour to tell you about. A lot more on the ebola case, as always you