A Madrid hospital expanded its monitoring of people who may be at risk of contracting Ebola from an infected woman and the U.K. will screen arriving passengers as Europe stepped up its watch on the deadly virus.
Thirteen people are under observation in Madrid, including the husband of 44-year-old nursing assistant Teresa Romero, who became infected after caring for two missionaries with Ebola, the La Paz-Carlos III hospital said last night in an e-mailed statement. None are showing symptoms. Romero’s condition is “serious but stable,” the hospital said.
European nations are becoming more vigilant after Romero this week became the first person to contract Ebola outside of Africa. Her illness, and the Oct. 8 death of a Liberian man in Dallas, have raised concern that Ebola will infect others in Europe and the U.S. The viral infection has killed more than 3,800 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia this year.
“We remain alert and prepared, should an Ebola case be identified here,” Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies said in a statement late yesterday.
The U.K. said it will screen passengers arriving from those three African nations for signs of Ebola, following the U.S. in implementing measures that the World Health Organization says are unlikely to work.
Photographer: Pablo Blazquez/Getty ImagesA sanitation worker wearing protective clothing desinfects the hall of the apartment building, the private residence for Spanish nurse Teresa Romero several days after she was tested positive for the Ebola virus on October 10, 2014 in Alcorcon, near Madrid, Spain. Close
A sanitation worker wearing protective clothing desinfects the hall of the apartment building, the private residence for Spanish nurse Teresa Romero several days after she was tested positive for the Ebola virus on October 10, 2014 in Alcorcon, near Madrid, Spain.
Travel History
Medical staff will assess passengers arriving from the three Ebola-stricken nations at Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Eurostar terminals, according to a statement from Prime Minister David Cameron’s office yesterday. The personnel will assess passengers’ recent travel history, who they’ve been in contact with and their onward travel plans.
The U.S. said this week it would start taking the temperature of passengers at five airports that account for more than 90 percent of passengers who enter the country from West Africa, after the Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, became the first person to export Ebola outside of Africa when he arrived in Dallas last month.
In Australia, a nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has tested negative for the deadly virus after she was hospitalized in Australia with a low-grade fever. The 57-year-old woman will probably remain under observation for at least another 24 hours as a “necessary precaution,” Jeannette Young, Queensland state’s chief health officer, said in a statement today.
The people being monitored for Ebola in Spain after having contact with the infected nursing assistant include five doctors, four nurses, two hairdressers and a porter, the La Paz-Carlos III said. An initial test showed no sign of infection in one nurse and another nurse had been released from care, according to the hospital.
To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vidya Root at vroot@bloomberg.net; Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net Kristen Hallam, Thomas Mulier
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