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The nurse treated two Spanish priests who both died of the virus
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.Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has announced plans to screen passengers flying to the United States.
Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak - mostly in West Africa.
The Spanish auxiliary nurse, a 40-year-old woman whose identity has not been revealed, was one of some 30 staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid who had been treating Spanish priests Manuel Garcia Viejo and Miguel Pajares, officials say.
Mr Garcia Viejo, 69, died at the hospital on 25 September after catching Ebola in Sierra Leone.
The nurse was moved to Carlos III hospital in Madrid in the early hours of Tuesday
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.
Shortly afterwards she had gone on holiday, a hospital spokesman said, but fell ill with fever symptoms on 30 September and was admitted to Alcorcon hospital in south-west Madrid on Sunday after being positively tested for Ebola.
In the early hours of Tuesday she was moved under a police escort to Carlos III hospital in the capital and is said to be in a stable condition.
Her husband and the other members of the medical team are being monitored. It was not known where she had gone on holiday.
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In Sierra Leone, Ebola treatment centres are full and patients are being turned away, as Tulip Mazumdar reports
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 used during the treatment of the two priests 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 worn did not allow for ventilation and the gloves were made of latex and bound with adhesive tape.
Manuel Garcia Viejo, seen in a file photo, was the second Spanish priest to be repatriated from Africa with Ebola
Such a facility would use a specially-designed tent with controlled ventilation to house the patient's bed - this allows staff to provide clinical care while containing the infection.
Staff treating the patient must wear protective suits, gloves, masks and goggles. This equipment should be completely impermeable since Ebola is spread in bodily fluids such as sweat, urine and blood
Any clinical waste such as syringes, paper towels or clothing from the patient should incinerated. A dedicated laboratory should be used to carry out any necessary tests.
Dr Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has ruled out banning flights to the US from countries suffering the outbreak, arguing the isolation would only worsen the outbreak within Africa and would deny those countries crucial aid.
Mr Obama criticised foreign governments for not acting "as aggressively as they need to" against the outbreak.
"Countries that think that they can sit on the sidelines and just let the United States do it, that will result in a less effective response, a less speedy response, and that means that people die.
"And it also means that the potential spread of the disease beyond these areas in West Africa becomes more imminent," Mr Obama said.
Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has the virus and the only way to stop an outbreak is to isolate those who are infected.
In another development, Sierra Leone opposition politician Chernor Bah says a shipment of supplies urgently needed to help Ebola patients has been held up for months in Freetown port because the government refuses to pay duty on it.
However, health officials insist payment to allow the shipment through has been made.
There have been nearly 7,500 confirmed infections worldwide, with officials saying the figure is likely to be much higher in reality.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been hardest hit.
Thomas Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US, is being treated at a Dallas hospital in isolation. He caught the virus in his native Liberia.
Mr Duncan's condition is critical but stable, doctors said on Monday.
He has been given Brincidofovir, a new experimental drug for treating Ebola which was developed in North Carolina.
- Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
- Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
- Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
- Incubation period is two to 21 days
- There is no proven vaccine or cure
- Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
- Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host
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