Ebola enters Spain, nurse infected

The Ebola virus has found its way to Spain as a Spanish nurse who treated an Ebola victim in Madrid is thought to be the first person to have contracted the virus outside Africa. She was a member of the medical team that treated Spanish priest, Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died of the disease on September 25.

The priest, who caught the virus while working in Sierra Leone, died at Carlos III de Madrid hospital. He was the second Spanish priest to die of the virus after Miguel Pajares,who contracted it in Liberia, died in August.

Health officials said on Monday that the infected nurse tested positive for Ebola in initial tests and final results are being awaited. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that she was admitted to hospital on Monday morning with a high fever.

This news comes as the US battles to limit the spread of the disease in Dallas, Texas, after a Liberian, Thomas Duncan brought it into the country. Doctors in Texas describe his condition as critical but stable.

There are about 7,500 confirmed infections worldwide, with officials maintaining that the figure could actually be higher in reality.

The worst hit countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.