attkisson. welcome to "full measure." centers issued a new health alert about a mysterious illness with nightmare scenarios. a child wakes up and his light does not move. or he wakes up and -- or he does not wake up at all. it mimics polio. the medical mysteries of where it came from and why have yet to be unraveled. new hampshire last year, disguised as a simple cold infection -- infecting a teenager. >> we took him to his the course of a couple of weeks. going around. sharyl:: but it was something much worse.

dan: i woke up. is that i cannot move my legs. sharyl: his parents rushed him to tufts medical center in boston. he was hospitalized for the next 49 days. do you remember how they told it to you? >> they didn't expect them to ever walk again. they didn't expect him to have the use of his legs again. we were destroyed, we were devastated. they were more concerned that he his own. that is what they were concerned about when they were telling us. sharyl: alarming reports surfaced from around the country. mechanical ventilators, some lost use of their lives. oregon. another child, mckenzie, paralyzed from the neck down. doctors say that patients have

called enterovirus d68. the dark circles in this image. >> people got together and try to figure out why this happened. sharyl: this doctor says evd68 is in the same family as polio. >> it is in the same family, but polio is like the black sheep of the family and the enterovirus is the nasty cousin that does not do what it should do. sharyl: it was the similarities to polio that chilled scientists to the bone. polio killed 3000 and paralyzed year in 1952. now, 35 years after polio was urgently sought to learn w why a distant cousin had reared its

in september 2014, the cdc issued an alert. >> so far, no deaths attributed to evd68 infection have been documented. sharyl: almost unheard of in the u.s. until now, but seen in europe, asia, and central into the u.s. from other countries? if the cdc had answers, it wasn't saying area the government watchdog group judicial watch filed a freedom of information request to try to get more information from the cdc. the judicial watch director of investigations says his group is still waiting for a response from cdc more than a yr later. >> it is extraordinary. there is usually some effort to produce something. in this case, silence. there is no accountability. there is no explanation to the public. the judicial watch director of there is no explanation of the outbreak.

statement was the last time it would address the outbreak on get much worse. >> say, "crocodile." sharyl: five days later, eli, in die. >> it was a bolt out of the blue. that is really what it was. sharyl: andy said his four-year-old son seemed bed, but he never woke up. >> there really wasn't anything that would indicate that he was susceptible to anying like this. sharyl: though the disease can be spread with a cough or sneeze, his sisters were unscathed. it all raised more questions than answers. the family found facts hard to cocome by. >> we were just running around,

the next doctor to here and we did not have a handle of what is going on. that was the extent really of the information that we got. sharyl: after eli, others lost their lives. madeleine reid, a toddler in michigan. emily, a 10-year-old in rhode island. the outbreak that cdc was not anxious to talk about on camera was far more pervasive and deadly than one getting lots of attention -- the measles at disneyland. >> the bottom line on measles, it can be a serious disease. sharyl: by way of comparison, the disneyland measles affected 143 people in eight states with no deaths. enterovirus d68 sereriously sickened more than 1200 children in every state. 120 were paralyzed. 14 died. >> you don't want to see anything like this ever happen to anyone. >> this is my favorite dog.

his family tries to keep grief at bay. >> early on, we were determined -- if things can happen like that, we've got to make the most out of every little moment that we get with them. [laughter] sharyl: as for danhis family tries to keep grief at bay. >>, his left leg remains partially paralyzed and her limbs are weak. he has defied predictions, going from wheelchair to walker to this. he has even managed enough balance to get back out on the family fishing boat. >> i caught dinner. i steer the boat while my dad reeled it in. >> he loves to be on the boat. he rim the boat while we caught e fish. he was so excited about that. sharyl: this season, the cdc is reporting sporadic paralysis cases, but won't say how many and won't talk to us on camera about the mystery disease.

why is it that some children get sick and some even die from it? >> that is the million-dollar question. why do some people get something? why do some people not? the thing that keeps me up at night is how can we separate and determine who are the ones who are going to be more susceptible? sharyl: the cdc recently told me it would be at least nine months more before would be able to reply to my first of two freedom of information requests about this file a year ago, even though the law requires a response in 20 days. sadly, will everyone hoped the paralysis would be temporary, the latest study indicates that the children have minimal to no improvement. ahead, the flight for thousands

syria and sharyl: a rush of foreign fighters to join isis appears to be rising rapidly. according to one study, the number doubled in the past 18 months. in 2014, 12,000 people travel to the total could be estimated at 27,000-31,000 fresh recruits from all over the globe. that means tens of thousands of sons and daughters go missing and may never return, except in the case of one father from belgium. dimitri bontink.

group and went to syria, he began a dangerous and incredible journey to bring him home. "full measure" correspondent scott thuman has the journey of the grgreat escape. scott: if you did not go to syria, would your son be alive today? >> no. he would have stayed there. it was the highest price to die as a martyr. scott: what dimitri faced was an almost impossible and certainly frightening challenge for any father -- to save his sofrom a terror training camp inside syria. even the lead up to this moment was baffling. his son was hardly the ideal foreign fighter, born in belgium and raised catholic, he seemed the average teen. he even visited in washington d c and spoke highly of the american dream. after a breakup with a girl and meeting another who introduced him to the koran, he began to change.

he went to syria to join islamic extremists. dimitri: we were very shocked. what do you think? we are not muslims. scott: determined to bring him back, dimitri, a former soldier, begin plotting his sons rescue. dimitri: i don't speak arabic. i don't have any connections in the middle east. scott: the first trip turned up nothing. on his second, a solo attempt, he found the group holding his son, led by a long time terror suspect abu asir. what did they do to you? dimitri: they took all my clothes off. they put a cap above my head. the handcuffed m they took me upstairs. they really suspected me to be a spy. scott: they are torturing you, they are questioning you. dimitri: yes. scott: and you are saying, i'm just trying to find my son. dimitri: i'm a father who was

dimitri: they said, allah decided and that goes above everything. it was really hard. scott: after forming an odd, but necessary relationship with the group, he and his son were reunited and allowed to leave. the day you got him out of syria and across the border and you were in safety, what was the feeling? dimitri: the first moment when i know we are safe, i hold him like a small baby, like a child. we were both crying. we were both crying, it was an emotional moment. scott: whilehat story alone seems like a script written for hollywood, the sequel may be even bigger. dimitri: i had my son back and it was over. this nightmare. we were going to start a new life. my life just started after that. scott: started because his success meant hope for other parents of radicalized teenagers turn jihadi. through his website and

flooded with requests. dimitri: the only something i could wish is that all of these western youngsters return home where they belong. scott: it is not just a wish. you actually go back to syria. you go to iraq. dimitri: yes, yes. scott: how many times? dimitri: 36 times. scott: and how successful are you are getting children back? dimitri: i've gotten five back. five. live, physical. five back. he says. for example, an unnamed american family in which the sun refused to return. reasoning with the terror groups in an upside down world of backward logic. then there is so-called "government interference." dimitri: especially in u.s. cases, they advise parents not to go there. that is what they advised.

himself as a modern-day mother for free. do you risk your life every time? dimitri:i: every time. they know who i am. they know what i am there to do. the know what i'm coming to do. they know i am trying to take people out. scott: but his calling is too loud. he said he wakes up syria, he goes to bed syria. he says he could not stop even if he wanted to. dimitri says his son was held with james foley, the american journalist that was killed, and a british photographer still among the terror groups. sharyl: what happened when his son when he got back? scott: he was released after about 40 days. he spent that time in jail for his affiliation with the terror group. he regrets his decision to be affiliated with the terrorist group. he said his son will be an advocate to try to deter other people from being radicalized.

sharyl: scott thuman, thanks. very interesting. there has been much debate about muslims entering the united states. what about muslims already here? since the u.s. census bureau does not survey religion, we don't have official numbers. a survey in 2011 reported 2.75 million muslims. the council on muslim american relations says there could be as many as 7 million muslims in america. either way, it means muslims are minorities in almost every city. in one town, we found democracy in action. a community with an elected muslim majority on its counsel. a report from hamtramck, michigan. >> it is a city built on the promise of a new beginning. hamtramck is a small community

boundaries of detroit. wh the auto industry turnened detroit into motown, hamtramck doubled in size in one decade, with immigrants rushing to fill the jobs and find the american dream. now, a century later, that promise remains, as does the space. it may look a little different. >> we are thinking this place is very comfortable to live. >> this is the president of the islamic center in hamtramck and when the auto industry turned detroit into motown, hamtramck one of the thousands of muslim immigrants that has chosen to settle here. >> if you come here, it looks like another united nations. >> walk down the street and you will see why some e people say the middle east has landed here, where the city council now has a muslim majority. its newest member says he has a plan to help the struggling economy here. >> i'm not going to put my religion or my islam into my politics or my job.

serve everyone here. >> for greg kowalski, the city historian, it is the newest chapter of a always changing -- a constantly changing place. greg:t is really fascinating. everyone is mixing together. >> it sounds like the american dream. like the melting pot. greg: i think it is. i really, really do. for all. especially some of the longtime residents. family here. bernice: i think there is no social life because you don't talk to many people and many people don't want to talk to you. >> or, they can't in some cases. bernice i'm sitting on the porch : by myself and she is sitting on her porch, but we can't communicate. >> for others, the change has brought fears. marie said she no longer leaves her house. do you feel if they have -- do you feel like they have assimilated well into the community? marie: i feel like they are

>> she speaks of a time when the ty was more than 80% polish. this corner perhaps best represents the two worlds. on one side, the painting of an eagle, the symbol on the polish flag. on this side of the street, a mural of three yemeni women painted on the side of a middle eastern restaurant. even though the polish population stands at about 11% today, the remnants of the history are here. the statue of pope john paul, who came to visit the city in the 1980's, polish restaurants and markets, even the polish ngress, which sits footsteps from the islamic center. >> polonia is still very present. it is not going anywhere anytime soon. >> this professor has written several books including "old islam in detroit." >> i don't think there is anything different about muslim settlement here. it is the same history of a lot of people when they came to

>> a lot of people like to look to the past to see how things are. on the other hand, you have to face the reality. things can change. >> change e is the one constant here, where germans were replaced by polish immigrants in the 19th century and now muslims, fs,m many nations, with each group, a new diversity and each has an idea of what it means to be american. in hamtramck, michigan, "full measure." sharyl: still ahead on "full measure," we follow the money to find federal workers getting

sharyl: how about a paid vacation for three years? that is what dozens of federal workers at homeland security are getting. they are being paid to do no work thanks to your hard work and tax dollars. >> there may be some legitimate reasons, but i haven't found

most often, it becomes a culture within an agency that puts people on administrative leave for punishment, for an inability to make a decision. sharyl: setor charles grassley suggests that there has been systemic misuse of paid administrative leave. by the department of homeland security. from 2011-2013, 88 dhs employees were on paid leave for more than a year. most well under investigation for misconduct. that includes 17 on paid leave for two years and four for three years or more. >> it is not an endless, guaranteed employment forever. sharyl: chris farrell is with the government watchdog judicial watch estimates homeland security spent 1.8 million tax dollars last year for workers who are not working. >> if f you have acted in a way that is objectively out of

suspended pending final outcome or if it is serious enough, it is grounds for termination. sharyl: grassley wants to know y some of the workers were not put on unpaid leave. for all fedederal employees, the government accountability office estimates paid leave costs taxpayers $3.1 bilillion over three years. >> i can't give you definitive answers, but it seems to me that it tends to be a crutch for administrators not making a decision. it is an example that it is difficult to fire federal workers. it is easier to put them on administrative leave, out of sight, out of mind, even though it is wasting taxpayer dollars. sharyl: we reached out to the department of homeland security for comment. the department is reviewing long administration of -- administrative leave cases and is considering whether to ntinue it or assign them to a more appropriate status.

it "campaign incredible." sharyl: one person seemed to dominate the week in politics. donald trump. his proposal to ban muslims from traveling to the u.s. as united -- has united republicans and democrats in outrage. ouour "campaign incredible" brings you the week. in about 60 seconds.

calling for the total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> i would recommend that mr. trump take a moment and read our constitution. mr. bush: it is not about the blowhards out there just saying stuff. pres. obama: we betray the efforts of the past if we fail to push back against bigotry in all its forms. ms. fiorina: donald trump is a gift-wrapped package under the christmas tree to hillary clinton. but i am the lump of coal in her stocking. mrs. clinton: the fight against these radical jihadists is one that we must win. we have to work with muslims in our country and around the world. [applause] >> in the face of backlash from world leaders, trump is canceleling a trip to israel. >> you know how you make america great again? tell donald trump to go to hell. sharyl: trump will likely be a

republican presidential debates later this week. next week on "full measure," a story so bizarr, it is like a made-for-tv drama. manufacturing meth like in the hit show "breaking bad." but this meth lab was in a u.s. government facility. this one, you don't want to miss. that is next weeeek on "full measure." i'm sharyl attkisson. until next time, we will be searching for more stories that

and in depth look at the people and events that shape our community.this is iowa in focus.this week -- the unique town hall bringing two early voting states together.the issue in iowa's state house that has busloads of people going to the capitol to protest.

where we're giving context to