Dr. Ben Carson: Ebola Virus Could Be Used for Bioterrorism
Wednesday, 06 Aug 2014 11:27 PM
That's one reason he has said the two medical missionaries who contracted the virus in Africa should have stayed there for treatment until they were no longer contagious, he said Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids and not through air particles. Still, Carson noted, some viruses do mutate to more virulent strains, and Ebola can live inside fluids for several days outside of the body.
"So if there were a container of contaminated urine, and somehow it managed to find its way to someplace a lot of damage could be done," Carson said.
He suggested a scenario: "Someone comes up to a lab worker. He knows he's got the urine. 'How would you like to have a million dollars?' … Such things have been known to happen."
Former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Tevi Troy told Newsmax TVthat while it's not impossible that Ebola could be used for terrorism, it isn't likely.
"However, there is no evidence that that has happened at this point, and furthermore, it is very difficult to do that," Troy said.
At least six people have been tested for Ebola in the United States in recent days. One in Ohio came back negative, and on Wednesday lab results for a patient at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City also came back negative.
The locations of the rest have not been released, and Carson was critical of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for what he believes is favoring privacy of patients over the public's right to know.
Carson said he is a strong proponent of privacy, but added, "you can certainly reveal 'a patient' has been tested and is negative to allay hysteria."
When the government acts in a secretive manner people tend to assume the worst, he said.
"You can't just have blinders on and say, 'Privacy, privacy, privacy,' and there's a riot going on outside," he said.
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