Millions Infected: A Threat to U.S?; Court: Doctor's Crime Not Linked to Bin Laden; Blackberry Maker Hires Bankers, Cuts Expected; Waiter Gets $5,000 Tip
BLITZER: Millions of people are infected. It's a leading killer in Latin America and it's very, very tough to treat. So does this scary, parasitic disease pose a growing threat here in the United States? We asked Brian Todd to take a closer look into the story. What are you learning, Brian?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there's new concern about this disease because of the number of people infected. There is debate about whether it's a growing threat in the U.S. in some circles it's drawing comparisons to another disease.</s>TODD (voice-over): AIDS, the scourge of the post-war era killing over 25 million people over the past three decades. Is there a new AIDS on the horizon? Experts worry about a disease now affecting millions in Latin America.</s>DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I like to call Chagas disease the most important infection you've never heard about. And you've never heard about it because it almost exclusively affects people living in extreme poverty.</s>TODD: Chagas, a parasitic infection prevalent in poor areas of central and south America. Dr. Peter Hotez is lead author of a recent editorial about Chagas in a respected medical journal. Health authorities say roughly 10 million people are infected with Chagas. Hotez estimates it kills at least 20,000 people a year. (on camera): Is this difficult or impossible to cure?</s>HOTEZ: There are two medicines available, which if you catch the infection very early on seem to have some beneficial effect on treating the patient. The problem is once the heart symptoms start, which is the most dreaded complication, the chagas cardiomyopathy, the medicines no longer work very well, problem number one. Problem number two, the medicines are extremely toxic.</s>TODD (voice-over): Also Hotez says Chagas is like AIDS because it's contaminated the blood supply. (on camera): This is ground zero for Chagas. Experts say the parasite for Chagas lives in its guts and it likes to hide in wall crevices and then at night it drops on to people that is sleeping. It likes to bite you on the face. It's called the kissing bug. When it ingests your blood, it excretes the parasite at the same time. When you wake up and scratch the itch, the parasite moves into the wound and you're infected. You can be infected with Chagas for decades before you actually get the severe symptoms of the disease, but then when you move into the severe stage, you can develop an enlarged heart or intestines that can burst. (voice-over): Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health says Hotez and others are overstating the danger of Chagas.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH (via telephone): I'm concerned that when people talk about the comparisons with HIV that that comparison would translate into thinking it's transmitted like it is with HIV, which is just not the case.</s>TODD: Fauci says Chagas is transmitted primarily by the bug biting you, by pregnant women infecting their children and by people living in areas where it's prevalent donating blood that's not screened.</s>TODD: Dr. Fauci says only about 20 percent of people who get infected will go on to get the life-threatening form of Chagas. Fauci says Chagas does not pose a significant danger to people in the U.S. But that's where some debate creeps in. Dr. Peter Hotez disagrees with them there, saying that there's transmission of this disease in South Texas where those bugs can be found in South Texas and that many dogs in South Texas now have Chagas -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: He also has information about the number of women, pregnant women who may have this disease.</s>TODD: That's right. Dr. Hotez says 11 percent of pregnant women in Latin America are infected with Chagas and they can transmit it to their children about 5 percent to 10 percent of the time and you break that down it may not seem like a lot, but it's certainly enough to be concerning at this point.</s>BLITZER: I suspect we're going to be learning a lot more about this disease in the months and years to come. Thanks, Brian. Good information. New information also about the Pakistani doctor who helped the United States find Osama Bin Laden. Lisa Sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in THE SITUATION ROOM right now. What else is going on, Lisa?</s>SYLVESTER: Hi, there, Wolf. Well, it appears that Shaquille Afridi's crime is not what we first thought. He's a doctor who set up a fake vaccination program to help find Bin Laden and received 33 years in prison for spying. But a court says the harsh sentence is related to his, quote, "close links to a militant group in Pakistan." Afridi's family says it's false. Afridi has been in jail for the last year. And new signs that Blackberry is in bad shape. The company that makes the mobile device, Research in Motion has hired two big banks to help, quote, "review the company's options," which likely means big job cuts and eliminating sectors all together. Blackberry has fallen behind other smartphone makers like Samsung, Apple and Nokia. And talks about a great day on the job, a waiter in Houston, Texas received a $5,000 tip on only a $27 tab. There's one catch, the couple that tipped him, they have set up specific instructions on what to buy with that money.</s>GREG RUBAR, WAITER: He said we'll come in and we're not going to tip you for a while and he said it's enough money to go buy you a nice car.</s>SYLVESTER: Wow, that was awfully nice. Now the waiter lost his car in a storm several weeks ago and he's been taking cabs or busses to get to work. So somebody, a couple just gave him $5,000 to get a new car. It's nice to know that there are people out there doing great things.</s>BLITZER: I love those stories, a very, very nice story and thank you for bringing a smile to us with that story. Thank you. Meanwhile, a flight makes an emergency landing when parts of the plane start raining down on cars. We have new information on the frightening scene. Stand by for that. And you could be watching this show on an Apple product some time very soon. The notoriously secretive company gives us a little hint to one of its future products.