NBC Nightly News open - 2009-05-04

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] On tonight's broadcast flu track, the

[0:04] number of new cases mounts, but is the

[0:07] worst over? The very latest tonight on

[0:09] this strange flu outbreak. Stormfront. A

[0:12] severe and dangerous weather system

[0:14] sweeps across the Southeast. When will

[0:16] all this led up? Drug war. Tonight, we

[0:19] have an exclusive look inside the war in

[0:21] Afghanistan like we've never seen it

[0:23] before. And worth it. The job of being a

[0:26] mom. Actually, lots of jobs. But what if

[0:29] there was a paycheck attached? Also

[0:31] tonight, beating the high cost of prom

[0:33] night and making a difference in the

[0:35] process. Nightly News begins now.

[0:41] [music]

[0:42] From NBC News world headquarters in New

[0:45] York, this is NBC Nightly News with

[0:47] Brian Williams.

[0:49] >> Good evening. If you spent at least part

[0:51] of this weekend wondering if this flu

[0:53] outbreak might be milder than we were

[0:55] warned about, you're not alone. Health

[0:57] officials didn't discuss the possibility

[1:00] of a pandemic of an illness that is

[1:03] milder than the regular seasonal flu.

[1:06] Illnesses are spreading though. The

[1:08] latest numbers show 286 cases now in 36

[1:12] states. That's over half the country at

[1:15] this point and 21 separate countries

[1:17] have now reported almost,00

[1:20] cases. We get a status report to start

[1:22] us off here tonight from our chief

[1:24] science correspondent Robert Bazelle.

[1:26] Bob, fair to say that so far we've been

[1:28] very fortunate.

[1:29] >> Indeed we have. Ryan, a week and a half

[1:31] ago, US and world agencies started and

[1:34] many people believe appropriately to

[1:36] prepare for a potential health disaster.

[1:39] We can say tonight, fortunately, the

[1:40] worst case scenario is certainly not

[1:42] unfolding.

[1:45] Students returned to St. Francis High

[1:47] School in New York City today, the site

[1:49] of this country's first big swine flu

[1:51] outbreak. The students and the faculty

[1:53] are glad to be back and are happy to be

[1:57] getting back to the regular educational

[1:59] routine.

[1:59] >> Among the dozens who were ill, many said

[2:01] they felt terrible.

[2:03] >> The first symptom was a cough and nausea

[2:06] and then I just started getting really

[2:09] bad headaches and like the cough and

[2:11] everything and really bad stomach pains.

[2:14] >> But even as the lab test confirmed swine

[2:16] flu, the illness lessened.

[2:17] >> When it came back positive, I was

[2:19] already getting better. So, it wasn't

[2:21] really that scary for me yet.

[2:22] >> And as the virus continues to spread

[2:24] across most of the country, that seems a

[2:26] common story which officials find

[2:28] reassuring. With each day, we learn a

[2:31] lot more information to help us

[2:33] understand this outbreak and understand

[2:35] the best means of of of control. Um,

[2:38] while we're not out of the woods, we are

[2:40] seeing a lot of encouraging signs. And

[2:42] the World Health Organization said that

[2:44] a pandemic, a worldwide outbreak of a

[2:47] new virus, does not mean a massive

[2:49] killer.

[2:50] >> It's understandable that people have

[2:51] made that association. And it's

[2:53] important that people understand that

[2:55] even if we go to phase six, that does

[2:57] not mean we're going to have a severe

[2:58] pandemic. We may have a very mild

[3:00] pandemic.

[3:01] >> Even in the hardest hit country, the

[3:03] outbreak seems to be leveling off. I'm

[3:06] Carrie Sanders in Mexico City where

[3:08] today the Secretary of Health indicated

[3:10] the worst is over. Officially sit-down

[3:13] restaurants, cinemas, and other places

[3:15] people congregate are supposed to be

[3:17] closed. But 4 days into a 5-day

[3:20] shutdown, the city is returning to its

[3:22] busy ways. And in the US, several states

[3:26] are deciding not to close schools, even

[3:29] if there is a suspected case.

[3:31] This new virus seems to be able to cause

[3:33] a very wide spectrum of disease. A New

[3:36] York health survey shows that there were

[3:38] about 1,000 cases associated with that

[3:41] single New York City school, most of

[3:43] them with relatively mild symptoms.

[3:45] Brian and Bob, what about this scenario

[3:47] we've read about that maybe it is mild

[3:49] this time around, but it it leaves us

[3:51] and boomerangs back months later as a

[3:53] more severe illness. Think about that

[3:55] old.