A man being treated in Dallas for Ebola remains in critical condition, but doctors say he is now receiving an experimental drug. Meanwhile, a nurse in Spain who cared for an Ebola patient there has tested positive for the disease – the first known instance of a transmission of the virus outside of West Africa.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital announced Monday that Thomas Eric Duncan, who apparently contracted Ebola in Liberia before coming to the U.S., is in stable condition and being treated with brincidofovir, an oral medicine developed by Chimerix Inc. Earlier, officials had said Duncan was in critical condition.
In Madrid, the 40-year-old nurse, who has not been identified, assisted in the treatment of a 75-year-old Spanish priest who had been flown from Liberia. The priest died after being treated with the experimental Ebola medicine ZMapp, The Associated Press says.
The nurse's condition is described as stable and health officials said her life is not in immediate danger. Health officials said she had no symptoms besides a fever, the AP says.
NPR's Lauren Frayer reports that a few months ago, Spanish officials were touting the country's ability to handle Ebola patients.
"But last night, the tone abruptly changed," Lauren reports on Morning Edition.
Spain's Health Minister Ana Mato urged the country to remain calm.
"We followed the protocol and we don't know how she got infected," Mato told a news conference.
"We know she entered the infected priest's room twice – once to treat him and once after he died to collect some of his things," Dr. Antonio Alemany, a health officials from the regional government of Madrid, said. "As far as we know, she was wearing a protective suit the whole time and didn't have any accidental contact with him."
Alemany said after she treated the priest, the nurse went on vacation for a week, but he didn't say where. He said that all of her co-workers and were being monitored twice a day for fever.
The World Health Organization issued a statement saying: "Spanish authorities are conducting an intensive investigation of this case, in order to determine the mode of transmission and to trace those who have been in contact with the health care worker. WHO is ready to provide support to Spain, as and if required."
The Guardian reports that health officials in Madrid have blamed substandard equipment and "a failure to follow protocol" for the nurse's infection.
"Health authorities announced on Monday that a Spanish nurse at Madrid's Carlos III hospital who treated a patient repatriated from Sierra Leone had twice tested positive for Ebola. "Her husband has also been admitted to hospital and is in isolation, and health authorities said they were testing a second nurse from the same team that treated both repatriated Ebola victims. In this case, the nurse contacted the authorities on Monday complaining of a fever. She has been place in isolation in the Carlos III Hospital while authorities wait for the results of the tests, said a spokesperson for the Madrid regional government."
On Monday, President Obama said Monday that the U.S. would step up screening for travelers with the disease at airports in the United States and West Africa.
The WHO estimates that Ebola has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa, including 370 health-care workers in hardest-hit Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
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