Rep. Peter King believes Ebola may be more of a threat than doctors are telling the public.
In an interview with Long Island News Radio last week, the New York Republican expressed his concern that the virus has mutated and become airborne, according to BuzzFeed.
“You know my attitude was it’s important not to create a panic and it’s important not to overreact and the doctors were absolutely certain that this can not be transmitted and it was not airborne and yet we find out the people who have contracted it were wearing all protective gear,” King said.
King used the two nurses who were stricken with Ebola after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the U.S., as a prime example of how doctors could be wrong about the way the virus is spread.
“Listen, I don’t blame doctors or the medical profession for not being up to date on the latest mutation,” King said.
“I mean, they should try to be and they should work at it but less I think they should be less definite when they make these pronouncements. That there is absolutely nothing to worry about, this can’t be transmitted airborne, that there’s nothing to worry about.”
His bottom line: Take the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s warnings about Ebola — that it is only transmitted through bodily fluids — with a grain of salt.
Doctors continue to maintain the disease is not airborne.
Dr Ron Behrens, a senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told BuzzFeed News earlier this week that “there’s no evidence” you can catch Ebola from coughing or sneezing.
