. >> reporter: some patients received it weeks ago but dr. besser said patients who received spinal steroids should watch for early symptoms of fungal meningitis. >> headache, difficulty with balance. any of those signs you should see your doctor right away. >> reporter: dr. besser believes most patients should be in the clear in about two weeks, a full four weeks before the drug maker shut down their operations. >> animal lovers listen up. nature's recipe is recalling dog food for possible salmonella it. recalls the oven baked biscuits with real chicken. it was made at del monte pet product foods. it was found in resealable pouches. the food has a best if used by date of 10/11/13. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton is taking responsibility for the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. on september 11th ambassador chris stevens and three others were killed. in an interview with abc news, secretary clinton promised to hunt down the attackers. >> whatever evidence can be gleaned and we will track down whoever did this and hold them account

dr. richard besser on this new study. thank you. >>> and coming up next, the abc news investigation into some of the people hired to protect american civilians overseas. one company given contracts worth millions and millions of dollars, but what are some of these private security forces doing? a whistle blower came to abc's brian ross with a video. >> reporter: on the dangerous streets of kabul, afghanistan, these are some of the men being paid by american taxpayers. >> there you go, all right. >> reporter: to protect u.s. civilians from terrorists 24/7 as they work for the american government. this is the staggeringly drunk security manager for an american company called jorge scientific, with a $47 million contract from the pentagon to train afghan police that requires zero tolerance for alcohol or drug use. >> they are endangering themselves. they are endangering the people they are there to protect. >> kevin, come on. >> reporter: this was the company's medical officer, wiped out, stoned. >> please snap out of it. >>

. >> our team of doctors are weighing in on this, as well, dr. besser and dr. ashton. how long before see the true reaction? >> it could be as long as a month, david, before we realize the full problem. >>> now to the race for president, "your voice, your vote" and just 30 days to go now until the election and both candidates trying to capitalize on their own momentum. governor romney fueled by his debate performance in florida all weekend long drawing his biggest crowds yet and president obama with that new unemployment number back to where it was when he took office teaming up with bill clinton in california, and clinton will be on the campaign trail all week, and this as a new gallup poll showing a tighter race after the debate. the president now up by just three points after being up by six points at his peak. abc's david kerley is on the campaign trail tonight in florida. >> reporter: 9,000 flag-waving romney supporters jammed the town square, 6,000 last night, all ready to turn the president out of office. >> you all have the chance to hear his answers or his not

our dr. richard besser tests the water all around millions of people in the storm zone and the worrying results are in. >>> countdown. to another race. the election, days away. how has this storm changed the campaign? >>> and, life lessons from the storm. what this man did with his cell phone that helped give birth to his baby. and how this officer saved his family before he died. >>> good evening. and tonight, we have breaking news from the storm zone. look at this. new scenes of utter devastation. thousands of people still stranded and at this hour, rescuers still scrambling to pull families out of harm's way. also tonight, a new terror. can you see that in the water? the bubbling up? that geyser is flammable gas spewing out of a pipe and it's happening all across one town. a single spark could ignite everything. and the people there can hear the hissing sound as it leaks. listen. [ hissing ] abc's terry moran spent the day in that town and he's standing by with the very latest for us right

go to the website, check in with dr. richard besser. thank you, rich. >>> and coming up, we showed you tsa steaming your personal items as you go through security. abc's brian ross exposed the story and he's back tonight with a giant new crackdown. abc news gets action, next. especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. >>> last week, brian ross brought us that groundbreaking investigation, sh

dr. besser is joining us. you were here friday. how serious does this outbreak look now? >> this is very serious. it's more than doubled since friday. these were injections that people got for back pain, okay? they were dealing with back pain and now they have to worry about meningitis. the product was sent -- there were over 17,000 vials sent to 76 clinics in 17 states. this fungus grows very slowly. you could see cases for an entire month. >> and how soon should patients, if they're starting to feel symptoms, get to the doctor? this could be a matter of life or death. >> you want to get to the doctor right away. go to abcnews.com to see if your clinic is one of those 76. if it was, contact your doctor to see if you received this product. and if you did, at the earliest symptom, you want to contact your doctor and get treated. >> the outbreak has put a spotlight on something called a compounding pharmacy. what is that and should we be concerned? >> these are what is called an old-style pharmacy mixing powders and solutions. there is no fda oversight. that has to change.

dr. besser breaking it down for us. kristen, i want to apologize for this. public fall caught on tape, prime minister of australia, this might be an excuse to show a bunch of lovely, successful women taking nosedives because of their shoes. kristen you are a braver woman that either myself or eric, it is all next right here. >> i don't know what you are talking about because i'm wearing uggs this morning that would be me. >>> it is 49ersers day here. 9ers taking on seahawks live at 5 p.m. after the game one lucky person who likes abc7 news on facebook will be $49,000 richer. katie marzullo is live in san francisco there's still time to get in on the action. >> reporter: there's lots of time, no time to waste you should see faces light up when i tell them how easy it is to win. [ inaudible ] this the screen, like us then click win $49,000 there's a few questions, name, address and that's it you are ed to win. make sure you live in the bay area you have to be at least a teen. you have until 7:30 tonight tone. [ inaudible ] >>> this morning the man arrested on

dr. besser was kind enough to give us great safety tips. some of them are relying on generators. cannot stress enough to have your generator away from the house. not in the house. not even in the garage. we thought we were okay. i was in a home that had one last night. that was until 2:00 in the morning, when the carbon monoxide detector went off. check our website for more great safety tips. it's squalling out here. >> great advice there. >>> we have some tips from dr. janet taylor, she was with us yesterday, on how to cope with this with our kids. so many times we're offering advice. i have no power downtown and kids home from school. what advice do you give to parents who are cooped up with their kids? >> anxiety can come from a number of resources. and also, recognizing it's a normal reaction to a stressful event. the first thing to keach your kid is context. and to have an attitude of gratitude. as parents, we have to practice patience. those kids can't say i'm nervous, i'm anxious. let them know it's okay to have unstructured free time. we have kids that may need to use cra

dr. richard besser said there's three things we should do every year. get a flu shot, have our blood pressure checked and cholesterol checked. >> i'm 0 for 3. >>> time, now, for planes behaving badly. planes. we start at the airport in burbank, california, where a private jet found up with its front wheels off the ground. the wheelie happened when three mechanics went to the back of the plane at the same time. they evens out the weight and the wheel went back down. nobody was hurt. >> that's remarkable. >> they were very slight mechanics. >>> from central germany, a military plane coming in for a rough landing came up a little short of the runway. then, bounced over a road, before finally stopping safely on the runway. things were okay in the end. let's hope the pilot, who is not a fighter pilot, does a little better. >> he wasn't just hot dogging? >> don't think so. >> keeping it interesting. >> if he gets another attempt. >>> week seven of the nfl kicks off tonight with a battle in the nfc west. the seattle seahawks taking on the 49ers in san francisc

here's some important information that our dr. richard besser wants to pass along to millions of you out there in the storm zone. first off, turn off major appliances but leave one light on so you know when the power eventually does come back on. also, stay away from fallen wires and down tree that may be near them. leave the cleanup to the professionals. also, operate generators safely and only according to manufacturer's directions. also, handle your food safely. spoiled food can make you pretty sick. finally, be a good samaritan, check on your neighbors, and particularly those with special needs. >> with the water, make sure you have a backup supply of nonperishable foods. flash lights, all of that. >> new yorkers consider themselves a tough bunch. but sandy had. many making preparations. in manhattan's upper west side, what would a hurricane be of course without all of those sacks. >> then there's this guy making a mad dash in grand central. racing to get on the last train out heading to the connecticut suburbs. >> and when th

troubling the only two treatments for fungal meningitis have very dangerous side effects, and our own dr. richard besser says that they're used to treat and they're not an option for david, and not just exposed. >> on the story again, thanks to you. >>> the navy is investigating why this nuclear sub and navy cruiser collided during routine training off the east coast of florida. no one was hurt. there was no damage to the sub's nuclear reactor and we're told both vessel s continued under their own power. >>> in southern california, a different kind of journey, "endeavour" trying to come home. it wasn't easy as everyone thought. try getting it through a suburban neighborhood. abc's abbie boudreau is in los angeles. >> reporter: inching along at a mere two miles per hour, it's hardly the kind of high-speed chase we're used to seeing in los angeles, but it's just as much of a nail-biter. here the shuttle came within millimeters of hitting this street lamp. >> pretty amazing. >> it feels like i'm a part of history. >> reporter: "endeavour" has already made an incredible 25 missions to space

dr. richard besser is here to explain. you worked at the cdc. why are they so worried it can spread? >> i talked to the lead investigator at the cdc. they're very worried about this. this was sent to 75 clinics in 25 different states. as doctors find the patients, they'll find this. >> what about this form of meningitis? >> you hear about meningitis. and you think about the outbreaks on college campuses, going person-to-person, very rapidly deadly. this is different. it's caused by a fungus, a mold that we're all exposed to. and it usually causes problems in people with immune problems. but here, it was injected directly into the spine. it goes up to the brain, causes inflammation. and in some people, it actually caused a stroke. >> what are the symptoms? >> it may be milder than what people think normally with meningitis, with stiff neck. here's what you want to look for. fever, but not always. you may have a worsening headache, nausea, weakness. but the stiff neck may be missing. if you had an injection with spinal steroid, you need to contact

abc's dr. richard besser weighs in. >> if you had a normal physical exam this year and you are feeling well, take a break. every two years check your blood pressure, cholesterol, your weight. every year get a flu shot. if something doesn't feel right, get checked out right away. the problem is so many annual visits are about testing and not talking. your next visit spend it talking to your doctor about those things that matter to your health. stress, sleep, smoking, weight, exercise. if you do those things during your next visit it really could impact on your health. >> tough medicine to take. other studies show patients and doctors believe the annual checkup is the right thing to do. another way you might avoid seeing more of your doctor. take a multivitamin pill. >> you do, don't you? >> i do not. i eat fresh fruit and vegetables. that's my rationalization. >> studies of individual vitamins have not shown the same benefit. abc's senior medical contributor dr. timothy johnson has more. >> repo

abc's chief health and medical editor, dr. richard besser, is here with what you need to know. do you agree with this study? and its conclusions? >> this is a bombshell. doctors and patients all believe in getting the annual physical. but this was really well done. and i do agree with the finding. this was a global study. they looked at 14 studies around the world over 50 years. they found that getting an annual physical did not decrease the chance you were going to die from heart disease or cancer or die at all over the course of the study. it didn't do that. >> you do say there are tests that you should get. what should you be doing for your health? >> well, every two years, you should get your blood pressure checked. you should get your cholesterol checked. every year, you should get your flu shot. but you can get that at the drug store. if anything doesn't feel right, you should see your doctor right away. you don't want to wait for the annual physical any way. >> if you don't get an annual checkup, you should have frequent conversations or regular conversations with your d

let's bring in abc's dr. richard besser now. rich, this recall includes 101 different products, including products that aren't peanut butter. just products made with nuts. i wanted to throw everything out of my kitchen. what do we keep? >> that's right. that's a lot of products. it's covering a lot of different brands. you have to check the list to see if your products are there. for some kids, peanut butter is the main stay of their diet. so don't do that. >> we know a million people get salmonella poisoning every year. but kids under 10, it's particularly serious. what are the symptoms? >> yeah, you worry about children, kids under 5. the elderly, and anyone with immune problems. about 12 hours to 3 days after eating something that's contaminated, fever, cramps, diarrhea, poisoning. if a child looks real sick, take them in. there are danger signs. high fever is one of those. severe stomach pain. a child who can't take in anything. can't keep anything down. listless, just lying around. if you see any blood coming out of anywher

and for more on that, abc's dr. richard besser is here with what you need to know right now. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's start by saying just because you're prepared doesn't mean you're safe. they don't go hand in hand? >> that's right. you could do everything perfectly to this point. but if you're not careful after the storm hits you could put yourself and your family at risk. the good news is with a few small steps, you can keep everyone safe. >> first things first, food. >> when the power goes out, what do i do with my refrigerator? after four hours, you have to be careful about what's in your refrigerator. leftovers, meat, get rid of it four hours after the power goes out. >> four hours after the power goes out, you need to be careful? >> that's the time. when it doubt, throw it out. your freezer, you get more time. if it's packed solid, 48 hours. half full, 24 hours. after that, get rid of that as well. >> how often are we allowed to go in the freezer to get food. >> each time you peek in, you cut down time. if you have ice in there with milk, for daily use,