Ebola: Pet dog of infected nurse in Spain to be killed

Officials in Spain have said that plans had been concluded to kill the pet dog belonging to the Spanish nurse who got infected with the Ebola virus.

The nurse was part of a special team caring for a Spanish priest who died of Ebola last month after being evacuated from Sierra Leone. The woman, who had been on vacation in the Madrid area after treating the priest, was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday. Her husband and three others have been hospitalized as a precaution.

Although the couple objected to the killing of their pet, "Excalibur", Madrid authorities went ahead to get a court order to euthanize and incinerate the pet. The government said available scientific knowledge suggests a risk that the mixed-breed dog could transmit the virus to humans, and promised to use "biosecurity" measures to prevent any such transmission.

Spanish authorities also were tracking down all the woman's contacts, and put more than 50 other people under observation, including her relatives and fellow health care workers. "The priority now is to establish that there is no risk to anybody else," emergency coordinator Fernando Simon said.

Even so, the potential repercussions of Ebola's presence in Europe became clear, as shares of Spanish airline and hotel chain companies slumped in Tuesday's trading. Spain is Europe's biggest vacation destination after France, and investors were apparently spooked that the deadly virus could scare away travelers.

The afflicted woman, reportedly in her 40s and childless, was not identified to protect her privacy, but nursing union officials she had 14 years' experience. Spanish officials said she had changed a diaper for the priest and collected material from his room after he died. Dead Ebola victims are highly infectious, and in West Africa their bodies are collected by workers in hazmat outfits.