Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) on Monday suggested that unaccompanied children who have crossed illegally into the United States from Central America might have Ebola, according to a report in The Times of Northwest Indiana.
On WIBC-FM’s “Garrison” radio show, the paper quoted Rokita referencing a recent conversation he had with Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) in which they agreed the children could pose as a public health risk if they’re placed in Americans’ homes.
“He said, look, we need to know just from a public-health standpoint, with Ebola circulating and everything else — no, that’s my addition to it, not necessarily his — but he said we need to know the condition of these kids,” Rokita was quoted as saying.
{mosads}The Indiana newspaper noted that none of the more than 30,000 children from Central America has Ebola, according to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.
No one has, in fact, contracted the deadly disease in the Western Hemisphere. It has been spreading in West Africa.
A second U.S. aid worker, Nancy Writebol, who had been working in Liberia and is infected with the disease is expected to land in the U.S. Tuesday for further treatment.
Dr. Kent Brantly, who worked with Writebol in Liberia, arrived in the U.S. on Saturday and is being treated at Emory University Hospital.
No cure for Ebola exists, but both reportedly received an experimental top-secret drug that had been shipped overseas from the U.S., which seemed to improve their conditions.