Something’s Killing Me on HLN tonight delves into the deadly spate of Anthrax attacks which terrorized the nation back in 2001.
The ‘Amerithrax’ attacks, which started a week after 9/11, saw patients in Florida, New York, and Washington, D.C., being admitted to hospitals with mysterious and sometimes fatal bacterial infections.
It came after letters containing Anthrax spores were mailed to a string of media outlets across the country.
The first person to die was Robert Stevens, a British photo editor for the National Enquirer and the Sun supermarket tabloid.
Four others were also killed, and 17 more people became infected.
As the cases started to appear across the country, the CDC had to mobilize in a bid to find out what was causing the deaths and to trace the origins.
Scientist Dr. Bruce Ivins became the main suspect after the crimes were investigated by the FBI. In 2008, prior to indictment, he killed himself.
Tonight HLN looks at the work of the CDC’s “Disease Detectives”, who are the front line for domestic terrorism attacks involving pathogens.
Something’s Killing Me will show how a medical investigation ramped up into a criminal case and the subsequent frantic search for a suspect.
Hosted by Emmy nominee BD Wong, the episode looks at the hard and methodical work the responders do to prevent and to mitigate these attacks.
Something’s Killing Me splices interviews with journalists, and those who were there at the time.
The victims, their families, and the attending doctors’ recollections are woven into real event re-enactments which take us on a chilling look back in time.
Something’s Killing Me ‘Disease Detectives’ airs tonight, September 10, at 9pm ET/PT on HLN. The next episodes are — Family Curse (airdate: September 17, 9PM ET/PT), looking at a rare genetic disease causes a fatal form of insomnia; and Angel of Death (airdate: September 24, 9pm ET/PT), where police investigate sinister hospital death circumstances.