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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, young Navajo
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Indians were dying at an alarming rate.
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More than 20 people would die from the
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mysterious disease, one that health
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officials had never seen 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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[Music]
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Covering 25,000 square miles of high
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desert in four states, Utah, Colorado,
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New Mexico, and Arizona, is a Navajo
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Indian reservation in an area known as
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the Four Corners.
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It's the largest Navajo community in
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America with some 1,200 members of the
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tribe living throughout the desert
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hills.
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The scenery brings thousands of tourists
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each year, a vital source of revenue for
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the Navajo who have inhabited the area
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for centuries. But poverty is endemic
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and was a fact of life for people like
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19-year-old Merrill Bahi. But Mel Bahi
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had something that set him apart. Merl
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was a very phenomenal person. But where
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he stood out was his running ability.
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And uh I think if you talk to anybody
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that saw him run, you know, they would
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tell you that it was a gift that he had
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uh in running. and he loved to run.
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>> Merryill 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 really know how
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to put a sheet on a bl,
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you know, it was like he threw the
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blanket on and that was it. Said, "No,
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Mo, you um you put this down first." So
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I I had to 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, but the transition
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to life in the city was difficult until
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he met Florina Woody.
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>> Something magical happened. He met
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another Navajo girl at a PBLO school and
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they fell in love so intensely that um
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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 uh Merryill would
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keep his mind on his 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. She kept, you know,
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having these chills
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and it was it was something like you're
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getting a cold or getting sick from a a
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common cold.
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>> Her lungs were a 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
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wrong. They administered oxygen to help
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Fina breathe, but she went into shock. I
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saw um one of the nurses coming out of
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her room all disturbed and she was
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crying and and I knew there that
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something was happening.
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>> None of the standard procedures worked
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and Florina's heart stopped beating. The
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pressure on her lungs was simply too
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much for her body to bear. The cause of
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death, acute respiratory failure.
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Florina Woody died on Mother's Day. She
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was just 21 years old.
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>> When they told us that she was gone,
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then they allowed us to go into her
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room. I just couldn't believe that my my
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baby is gone.
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I didn't want to leave her. I just want
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to hang out there right there.
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Doctors had no idea what had caused
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Florina's sudden death, and they feared
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that whatever killed Florina Woody might
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be contagious.
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Florina's death was a particularly cruel
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blow to Meil Bahi. The mother of his
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infant son was dead. As Bahi prepared
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Flerina's funeral, he too started to
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develop similar symptoms.
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Merryill Bahi was beside himself. He
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wasn't feeling well,
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but
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it didn't occur to him that uh that it
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could possibly be the same thing that
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affected Florina.
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>> Merryill's physical condition quickly
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deteriorated, and he was rushed to the
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Crown Point Hospital, the same hospital
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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. Shortly before arrival, Merrill
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lost consciousness.
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As doctors rushed him into the emergency
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room, he died. The cause of death, acute
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respiratory failure.
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Merryill Bahi was only 19 years old.
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Ironically, Merryill died during
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Florina's funeral service, which was
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taking place directly across the street
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from the hospital. The funeral was going
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on and there we had a meeting with our
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medical investigator and Merryill's
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family were coming in for Flo's funeral
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and they were told there and everything
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just started happening here and there
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and and that's when I went to 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 in among traditional
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Napos to have autopsies done and the
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Navajo tribal government can forbid that
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if they want to. And I don't think the
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government people really understood that
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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 Beay wanted
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answers. She took the unusual step of
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defying tradition and the tribal elders
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by giving doctors permission to perform
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the 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? Where did it come from or
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what is it? Is it going to is it going
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to be here or how? You know, I asked I
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had that I had those questions and I
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wanted to find out.
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As authorities awaited the autopsy
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results, the disease continued its
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deadly rampage.
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Within a week of Florina and Merrill's
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deaths, the number of dead had risen to
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six, and each day more people were being
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hospitalized with symptoms.
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New Mexico officials feared they had an
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epidemic on their hands and panic
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gripped the region. We were getting
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calls from concerned citizens and
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concerned physicians and concerned
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school administrators and concerned
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everybody. Uh and that always will
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happen when something as dramatic as
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this and as frightening as this is
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occurring and when you do really don't
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have any good answers.
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>> The autopsies on Meil Bahi and Florina
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Woody answered few questions. The
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mystery illness could not be identified
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and until it was more people were
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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 broadcast an
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alert. Young Navajo were dying at an
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alarming rate and new cases were being
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reported every day. So little was known
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that health officials were not able to
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tell 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
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sending people home who we had to accept
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the possibility that they could drop
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dead within hours of leaving the
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hospital.
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>> The outbreak was now national news. And
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since it appeared that only Navajo were
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affected, it was dubbed the Navajo flu.
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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 bubanic 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. Plague symptoms,
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particularly the high fever, muscle
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pain, and fluid buildup bore
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similarities to the four corners
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disease. bubanic plague still crops up
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in New Mexico from time to time and so
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the state is very well equipped to do
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that test and um much to the to the uh
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chagrin of the investigators um the test
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was negative. It it was shagrin because
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they still didn't know what had killed
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this young couple. Another possibility
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was pneumonic plague, a highly
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contagious disease. It attacks the lungs
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and kills quickly, which is what
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happened to the four corners 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
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victims had collapsed, leaving the lungs
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wet like large sponges. This was not
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consistent with pneumonic plague and it
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did not resemble anything medical
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investigators had ever seen before
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>> and it was very puzzling and it was it
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was frustrating because you felt like
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how come we're not smart enough to
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figure this out? You know, this
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shouldn't be that hard. So, I haven't
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had I haven't had that many cases at one
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time that I didn't understand.
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>> Local health officials called in the
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Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta,
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Georgia. The CDC special pathogens team
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was sent in to look for possible causes.
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And they started their investigation in
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the trailer that Mel 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
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didn't know whether working with the
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tissues was going to be dangerous. We
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didn't know whether you could get this
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uh in the laboratory or from somebody
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outside in the field.
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>> The outbreak was considered a biosafety
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level four 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, CDC
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specialists searched the trailer and the
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surrounding area. They wore something
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like that. You know the astronauts that
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they're they're sending off to outer
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space. You know how they dress? They
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were dressed like that when they came to
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our place. And that was even scarier.
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They 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
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familiar with this disease and that it
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had struck before. They were saying that
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uh this outbreak had occurred in the
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century in uh 1933 and 1918 when uh it
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was preceded by 2 years of plentiful
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rains and heavy winter snows in the
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mountains.
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The tribal healer 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
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not say what it was. There was an old
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Nashville saying that I learned as a
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child that uh if a mouse ever runs over
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your clothing, you should burn it. And
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uh nobody ever knew what that old saying
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meant. Records indicated that there were
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heavy rains in 1991 and 92, the two
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years 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
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maximum containment section of the CDC
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labs, an area reserved for the study of
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the world's most dangerous germs and
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viruses, investigators performed an
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ELISA test or enzyme linked imunosorbent
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assay on the tissue samples from the
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victims. When a disease strikes, the
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body reacts by producing antibodies
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which are unique to that disease. The
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ELISA test can isolate those antibodies
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in order to compare them to the
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thousands of samples in the CDC 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 and halfway around the
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world.
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[Music]
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Within six weeks of Florina Woody and
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Melbah's deaths, more than 12 other
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young people had also died of the same
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mysterious disease. Investigators got a
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break in the case when a tourist from
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Iceland after visiting the reservation
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developed 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,
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somebody um sort of identified this as a
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Navajo disease, which it very obviously
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wasn't because we were seeing there
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there were other cases occurring in in
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non-Navajos, but but that that was
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particularly offensive, I think, to
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people. When CDC investigators compared
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the antibodies from the outbreak victims
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to those in their vast file of known
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diseases, they made a surprising
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discovery. The only sample that was in
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any way similar was one that was 40
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years old. It was a sample taken from a
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soldier stationed in Korea in 1950.
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During the Korean War, more than 3,000
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troops developed high fevers and kidney
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failure. About 400 died. Doctors called
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it Havirus because it was traced back to
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Korea's Honan River. That region was
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home to large numbers of striped field
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mice.
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Feces and urine from infected mice
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carried the virus. When it dried out, it
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became airborne and was then inhaled by
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the soldiers. From there, the virus
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attacked the kidneys. But investigators
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were uncertain whether this was the same
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as the four corners virus. There had
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never been a haunt virus reported in
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North America. And the four corners
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disease attacked the lungs, not the
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kidneys. I had no idea what Honda virus
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was and looked looked in, you know, my
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textbook which had a very short section
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on it. Uh, and of course it describes a
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disease that occurs in Asia which which
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sounded nothing like what we were
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dealing with.
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>> Was this the same disease? 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 it when a
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remarkably wet winter was followed by
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the masting of the the pinion trees.
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When when the pinion trees put out um an
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abundant supply of nuts, the rodent
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populations in the state began to to
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grow. And when that happened, young
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Navajo died.
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>> Investigators caught and tested deer
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mice from the Four Corners area. They
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found the mice were shedding a virus
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with the same DNA profile as the virus
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found in Florina Woody and Melbi.
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But the DNA profile of this virus was
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not identical to the Korean H 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 honor. That is
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the sequence was far enough from any
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other known hanavirus that we were
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convinced that it was a new virus. It
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wasn't just a minor variant on one of
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the old viruses. CDC scientists and
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Navajo medicine men suspected the North
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American HANA virus had been around for
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centuries, but since the cases were so
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isolated, it had always been
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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 pinion nuts, a rich source of food
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for the growing mice population.
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Authorities believe that Merryill Bahi
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and Florina Woody inhaled the dried
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urine and fecal matter from the infected
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deer mice when they were house cleaning
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or digging in their garden. In my heart,
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I think it's it was God's will that
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this is what was supposed to happen to
00:19:52
both of them and they were meant for
00:19:54
each other and they were meant to go
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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 and that people do everything
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possible to keep rodents out of their
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homes. 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 an old disease that
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the traditional healers had discovered
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long ago. And that was the I think to me
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that was uh the most exciting thing
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about this whole investigation. The
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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 to the same conclusion
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that um when rodent populations
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um explode the way they did in in the
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Four Corners in the spring of 1993,
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young Navajo died.
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These two very different 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]
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Why?
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[Music]
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Heat.
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Are you ready?
00:21:36
[Music]
