Dr. Carl Schultz of UCI Med Center Downplays Terrorist Spread of Ebola. As for Smallpox …

“While in theory it looks like biological weapons would be great … [it's a] lot harder to implement than you would think.”

-Dr. Carl Schultz, a professor of emergency medicine (with emphasis on disaster medicine and terrorism) at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, when asked recently about the possibility of terrorists spreading the Ebola virus in the United States.

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UCI Public Lecture on Fighting Diseases Like Ebola Can't Come Soon Enough

The notion takes on more importance now that the first Ebola death has been confirmed in the United States, in Texas, where a second man who came in contact with the first is showing symptoms.

But Schultz downplayed an Ebola spread, telling CBS News that smallpox would be a better example of a deadly virus that could be weaponized.

Since the U.S. and Russia are the only governments who keep smallpox samples, that would also be difficult to spread without being detected, Schultz said.

“Every time you try to do something like that–set up a lab, purchase equipment–you leave a paper trail,” he explained.

Meanwhile, check out Stephen Colbert's take on media-fueled Ebola hysteria:

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