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[Music]
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in 1993
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on an indian reservation in the
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southwestern united states
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young navajo indians were dying at an
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alarming rate
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more than 20 people would die from the
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mysterious disease
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one that health officials had never seen
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before
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but the navajo medicine men provided a
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critical piece of information which led
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investigators around the world to a most
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unlikely killer
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[Music]
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covering 25 000 square miles of high
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desert in four states utah colorado new
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mexico and arizona is a navajo indian
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reservation in an area known as the four
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corners
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it's the largest navajo community in
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america with some 1200 members of the
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tribe living throughout the desert hills
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the scenery brings thousands of tourists
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each year
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a vital source of revenue for the navajo
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who have inhabited the area for
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centuries
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but poverty is endemic
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and was a fact of life for people like
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nineteen-year-old meryl bahi
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but meryl bahi had something that set
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him apart
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merle was a very phenomenal person but
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where he stood out was his running
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ability and
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i think if you talk to anybody that saw
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him run
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you know
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they would tell you that it was a gift
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that he had
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in running and he loved to run
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meryl bahi was so fast he won a full
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scholarship to the santa fe indian
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school a boarding school that was miles
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away from his home both physically and
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culturally
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he didn't
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really know how
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to put a sheet on a bla on a bed or
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you know it was like he threw the
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blanket on and that was this that
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numeral you um
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you put this down first so i i had to
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show him how to
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to make up a bed
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bahi slowly adjusted to his new life he
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did well in school
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but the transition to life in the city
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was difficult
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until he met florina woody
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something magical happened he met
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another navajo girl at a pueblo school
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and they fell in love so intensely that
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the track coach decided to make florina
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the manager of the track team to hand
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out the towels so that
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merrill would keep his mind on his
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running
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not long afterwards they had a son
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maurice and planned to get married but
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shortly after the baby was born florina
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woke up one morning with what she
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thought was the flu
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she was all cold
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she kept
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you know having these chills
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and
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it was it was something like
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you're getting a cold or getting
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sick from a common cold
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their lungs were white out meaning they
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were just solid they should usually be
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dark from from the air and they
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obviously had something in there fluid
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in there
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doctors raced to find out what was wrong
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they administered oxygen to help florina
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breathe but she went into shock
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i saw
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one of the nurses coming out of her room
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all disturbed and she was crying
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and i i knew there that something was
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happening
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none of the standard procedures worked
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and florina's heart stopped beating
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the pressure on her lungs was simply too
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much for her body to bear
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the cause of death
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acute respiratory failure
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florina woody died on mother's day
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she was just 21 years old
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and they told us that she was gone
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then they allowed us to go to our room
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i just couldn't believe that my my baby
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has gone
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i didn't want to leave her i just want
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to hang out right there
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doctors had no idea what had caused
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florina's sudden death
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and they feared that whatever kill
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florina woody
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might be contagious
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florina's death was a particularly cruel
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blow to merrell bahi
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the mother of his infant son was dead
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as bahi prepared flo farina's funeral he
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too started to develop similar symptoms
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meryl bahi was beside himself
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he wasn't feeling well
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but
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it didn't occur to him
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that
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that it could possibly be the same thing
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that affected florina merrill's physical
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condition quickly deteriorated and he
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was rushed to the crown point hospital
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the same hospital that treated florina
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after an initial consultation merrill
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did not want to be treated where florina
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died so his family drove him to the
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indian medical center in gallup an hour
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away
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shortly before arrival merrill lost
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consciousness
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as doctors rushed him into the emergency
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room
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he died
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the cause of death
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acute respiratory failure
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meryl bahi was only 19 years old
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ironically merrill died during florina's
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funeral service which was taking place
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directly across the street from the
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hospital
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the freedom was going on and there we
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had a meeting with our medical
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investigator
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and meryl's family were coming in for a
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flow's journal
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and they were told there
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and everything just started happening
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here and there and that's when i went to
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shock
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health authorities had no explanation
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for what killed the young couple the
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only way they could determine the cause
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was to perform a complete autopsy but
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autopsies are not permitted in the
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navajo community
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it's forbidden
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in
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among traditional napos to have
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autopsies done and the napa tribal
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government can forbid
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that if they want to and i don't think
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the government people really understood
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that we have that sovereign power to do
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that even if it's a medical emergency
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but with her daughter and future
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son-in-law dead beta begay wanted
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answers
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she took the unusual step of defying
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tradition and the tribal elders by
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giving doctors permission to perform the
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autopsies
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the autopsy findings took on a new
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importance when merrill and florina's
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infant child maurice also fell ill
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he was rushed to the hospital and
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quarantined
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what is it
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where did it come from or
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what is is it gonna
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is it gonna be here or how you know
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i asked i had that i had those questions
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and i wanted to find out
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as authorities awaited the autopsy
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results the disease continued its deadly
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rampage
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within a week of florina and meryl's
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deaths the number of dead had risen to
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six and each day
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more people were being hospitalized with
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symptoms
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new mexico officials feared
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they had an epidemic on their hands and
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panic gripped the region
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we were getting calls from concerned
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citizens and concerned physicians and
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concerned school administrators and
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concerned everybody
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and that always will happen when
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something as dramatic as this and as
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frightening as this is occurring and
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when you do really don't have any good
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answers
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the autopsies on merrell bahi and
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florina woody answered few questions
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the mystery illness could not be
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identified
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and until it was
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more people
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were destined to die
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doctors in the four corners area are on
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alert to a deadly respiratory illness
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may 1993
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navajo radio stations in the four
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corners indian reservation
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broadcast an alert
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young navajo were dying at an alarming
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rate and new cases were being reported
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every day
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so little was known that health
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officials were not able to tell
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listeners what precautions to take
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against the disease
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it was frightening for people who came
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down with a fever and cough and headache
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at the time as a physician we're sending
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people home
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who we had to accept the possibility
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that they
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could drop dead
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within hours of leaving the hospital
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the outbreak was now national news
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and since it appeared that only navajo
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were affected it was dubbed the navajo
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flew
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there was pandemonium
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it's impossible to keep a string of
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deaths like this a secret for very long
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one possibility was bubonic plague the
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dreaded black death that killed millions
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during the middle ages and still strikes
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more than a thousand people worldwide
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every year
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plague symptoms particularly the high
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fever muscle pain and fluid buildup bore
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similarities to the four corners disease
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bubonic plague still
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crops up in new mexico from time to time
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and so the state is very well equipped
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to do that test
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and
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much to the to the uh
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chagrin of the investigators um the test
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was negative
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it was chagrin because they still didn't
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know what had killed this young couple
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another possibility was pneumonic plague
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a highly contagious disease it attacks
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the lungs and kills quickly which is
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what happened to the four corners
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victims
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since it could be treated with large
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doses of antibiotics doctors actually
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hoped that this was what they'd find
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but the autopsies turned up something
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different the capillaries of the victims
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had collapsed leaving the lungs wet like
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large sponges
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this was not consistent with pneumonic
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plague and it did not resemble anything
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medical investigators had ever seen
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before
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and it was very puzzling
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and it was it was frustrating because
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you felt like how come we're not smart
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enough to figure this out
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you know this shouldn't be that hard
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so i haven't had i haven't had that many
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cases at one time but i didn't
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understand local health officials called
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in the centers for disease control in
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atlanta georgia
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the cdc special pathogens team was sent
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in to look for possible causes
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and they started their investigation in
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the trailer that meryl bahi and florina
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woody once called home
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we had no idea what this was we didn't
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know whether it was contagious we didn't
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know whether working with the tissues
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was going to be dangerous we didn't know
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whether you could get this in the
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laboratory or from somebody outside in
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the field
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the outbreak was considered a bio safety
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level for hazard the most lethal
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designation
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dressed in specially designed suits to
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keep them free from any contagion
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cdc specialists searched the trailer and
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the surrounding area
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they wore something like that you know
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the
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astronauts that they're they're sending
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off to
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outer space
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and you know how they dress they were
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dressed like that when they came to our
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place
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and that was even scarier
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that there was fear
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they they scared us
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while the medical community turned to
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their scientific experts the navajo
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turned to their own specialists the
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traditional healers or medicine men who
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were responsible for the health of the
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reservation they said they were familiar
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with this disease and that it had struck
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before
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they were saying
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that this outbreak had occurred in this
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century in 1933 and 1918 when
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it was preceded by two years of
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plentiful rains and heavy winter snows
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in the mountains
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the tribal healers said the heavy rains
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had resulted in a dramatic increase in
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the number of mice on the reservation
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and they suspected there was some
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connection between the large number of
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mice and these deaths but they could not
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say what it was
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there was an old naval saying that i
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learned as a child that
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if a mouse ever runs over your clothing
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you should burn it and
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nobody ever knew what that whole thing
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meant
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records indicated that there were heavy
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rains in 1991 and 92 the two years
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preceding the current outbreak
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but health officials could not find any
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link between the rain the growing deer
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mice population and the outbreak
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meanwhile in what's known as the maximum
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containment section of the cdc labs an
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area reserved for the study of the
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world's most dangerous germs and viruses
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investigators performed an elisa test
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or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on
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the tissue samples from the victims
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when a disease strikes the body reacts
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by producing antibodies which are unique
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to that disease
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the elisa test can isolate those
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antibodies in order to compare them to
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the thousands of samples in the cdc
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files
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comparison after comparison was made and
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no matches were found until the
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investigation took an unexpected turn
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one that would take medical detectives
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back in time
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and halfway around the world
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[Music]
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within six weeks of florina woody and
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merrell bahi's deaths more than 12 other
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young people had also died of the same
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mysterious disease
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investigators got a break in the case
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when a tourist from iceland after
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visiting the reservation developed
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symptoms of the disease
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investigators now realized the outbreak
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was probably environmental and was not
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confined to the navajo
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unfortunately somebody
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sort of identified this as a navajo
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disease which it very obviously wasn't
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because we were seeing
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there there were other cases occurring
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in in navajos but but that that was
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particularly offensive i think to people
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when cdc investigators compared the
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antibodies from the outbreak victims to
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those in their vast file of known
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diseases
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they made a surprising discovery
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the only sample that was in any way
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similar
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was one that was 40 years old
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it was a sample taken from a soldier
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stationed in korea in 1950
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during the korean war
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more than 3 000 troops developed high
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fevers and kidney failure about 400 died
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doctors called it hantavirus because it
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was traced back to korea's han tan river
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that region was home to large numbers of
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striped field mice
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feces and urine from infected mice
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carried the virus
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when it dried out it became airborne and
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was then inhaled by the soldiers
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from there the virus attacked the
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kidneys but investigators were uncertain
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whether this was the same as the four
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corners virus
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there had never been a hantavirus
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reported in north america and the four
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corners disease attacked the lungs not
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the kidneys i had no idea what honda
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virus was
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and look looked in you know my textbook
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which had a very short section on it
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and of course it describes a disease
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that occurs in asia which which sounded
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nothing like what we were dealing with
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was this the same disease
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and if so
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how did it travel from korea to a north
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american indian reservation
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cdc investigators then remembered what
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they'd been told by the navajo
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traditional healers
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the medicine men had said when a
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remarkably wet winter
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was followed by
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the masting of the the pinyon
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trees when the penum trees put out
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an abundant supply of nuts
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the rodent populations in the state
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began to
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to grow
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and when that happened young navajo died
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investigators caught and tested deer
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mice from the four corners area
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they found the mice were shedding a
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virus with the same dna profile as the
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virus found in florina woody and merrell
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bahi
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but the dna profile of this virus was
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not identical to the korean hanta virus
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although the dna profiles were similar
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the strain from the navajo reservation
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was a new one unique to north america
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what we found when we did the comparison
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was that this was a new
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honda virus that is the sequence was
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far enough from any other known hanovers
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that we were convinced that it was
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a new virus it wasn't just a minor
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variant on one of the old viruses cdc
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scientists and navajo medicine men
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suspected the north american hantavirus
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had been around for centuries but since
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the cases were so isolated it had always
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been misdiagnosed
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the navajo made up a greater percentage
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of the victims only because they lived
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in more rural areas with large deer mice
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populations
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in the two years before the outbreak
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heavy spring rains created a bumper crop
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of pinyon nuts a rich source of food for
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the growing mice population
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authorities believe that merrell bahi
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and florina woody inhaled the dried
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urine and fecal matter from the infected
00:19:40
deer mice when they were house cleaning
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or digging in their garden in my heart i
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think it's
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it was god's will that
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this is what was supposed to happen to
00:19:52
both of them
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and they were meant for each other and
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they were meant to go together
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health officials recommend that masks
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and gloves be worn when cleaning rodent
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droppings
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and that people do everything possible
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to keep rodents out of their homes
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they also point out that the four
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corners outbreak was identified through
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the wisdom of the navajo medicine men
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and the scientists who were smart enough
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to listen
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we were discovering a an old disease
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that the traditional healers had
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discovered long ago and that was the i
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think to me that was the most exciting
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thing about this whole investigation
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the navajo using an entirely different
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approach looking at the balance of
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nature were able to identify factors
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that led them
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to the same conclusion
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that
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when
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rodent populations
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explode the way they did in the four
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corners in the spring of 1993
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young navajo died
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these two very different
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sets of people
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set out on very different paths and
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arrived in the same place
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[Music]
00:21:22
[Music]
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[Applause]
00:21:34
[Music]
00:21:45
you
