Investigations are under way at a
hospital in Madrid after a Spanish nurse became the first person known
to have contracted the deadly Ebola virus outside West Africa.
The nurse had treated two Spanish missionaries who died of the disease after being flown home from the region.
The European Commission has asked Spain to explain how the nurse could have become infected.
Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak – mostly in West Africa.
The Spanish auxiliary nurse, a 40-year-old woman who has not been named, was one of about 30 staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid who had been treating priests Manuel Garcia Viejo and Miguel Pajares, officials say.
Mr Garcia Viejo, 69, died at the hospital on September 25 after catching Ebola in Sierra Leone. Miguel Pajares, 75, died in August after contracting the virus in Liberia.
The nurse had twice gone into the room where Mr Garcia Viejo had been treated – to be directly involved in his care and to disinfect the room after his death. Both times she was wearing protective clothing.
Madrid health care director Antonia Alemany told reporters that according to the information available: “The nurse went into the room wearing the individual protection gear and there’s no knowledge of an accidental exposure to risk.”
Shortly afterwards the nurse went on holiday, a hospital spokesman said, but fell ill on 30 September and was admitted to Alcorcon hospital in south-west Madrid on Sunday after being tested positive for Ebola.
Early on Tuesday she was moved under police escort to Carlos III hospital in the capital and is said to be in a stable condition.
Her husband has been placed under quarantine in hospital, public health director Mercedes Vinuesa told parliament on Tuesday, and a list of people she may have had contact with was being drawn up so they could be monitored.
It was not clear where she had gone on holiday.
It is also unclear how she could have contracted Ebola.
The hospital was reported to have had extreme protective measures in place including two sets of overalls, gloves and goggles.
However, health workers told El Pais newspaper that the clothing did not have level-four biological security, which is fully waterproof and with independent breathing apparatus.
Instead it was level two, the paper says, as photographs provided by staff indicated that the overalls did not allow for ventilation and the gloves were made of latex and bound with adhesive tape.
The nurse had treated two Spanish missionaries who died of the disease after being flown home from the region.
The European Commission has asked Spain to explain how the nurse could have become infected.
Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak – mostly in West Africa.
The Spanish auxiliary nurse, a 40-year-old woman who has not been named, was one of about 30 staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid who had been treating priests Manuel Garcia Viejo and Miguel Pajares, officials say.
Mr Garcia Viejo, 69, died at the hospital on September 25 after catching Ebola in Sierra Leone. Miguel Pajares, 75, died in August after contracting the virus in Liberia.
The nurse had twice gone into the room where Mr Garcia Viejo had been treated – to be directly involved in his care and to disinfect the room after his death. Both times she was wearing protective clothing.
Madrid health care director Antonia Alemany told reporters that according to the information available: “The nurse went into the room wearing the individual protection gear and there’s no knowledge of an accidental exposure to risk.”
Shortly afterwards the nurse went on holiday, a hospital spokesman said, but fell ill on 30 September and was admitted to Alcorcon hospital in south-west Madrid on Sunday after being tested positive for Ebola.
Early on Tuesday she was moved under police escort to Carlos III hospital in the capital and is said to be in a stable condition.
Her husband has been placed under quarantine in hospital, public health director Mercedes Vinuesa told parliament on Tuesday, and a list of people she may have had contact with was being drawn up so they could be monitored.
It was not clear where she had gone on holiday.
It is also unclear how she could have contracted Ebola.
The hospital was reported to have had extreme protective measures in place including two sets of overalls, gloves and goggles.
However, health workers told El Pais newspaper that the clothing did not have level-four biological security, which is fully waterproof and with independent breathing apparatus.
Instead it was level two, the paper says, as photographs provided by staff indicated that the overalls did not allow for ventilation and the gloves were made of latex and bound with adhesive tape.
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