Yahoo – AFP,
Daniel Silva, 21 Oct 2014
Madrid
(AFP) - A Spanish nurse who was the first person to catch Ebola outside Africa
has been cured of the deadly virus, doctors confirmed Tuesday, easing fears of
it spreading in Europe.
Doctors at
the Carlos III hospital in Madrid said definitive test results showed Teresa
Romero, 44, was free of the virus, which has killed more than 4,500 people in
west Africa.
"The
criteria set by the World Health Organization for curing the Ebola virus have
been fulfilled," Doctor Jose Ramon Arribas, head of the hospital's
infectious diseases unit, told a news conference.
The news
was met with relief after two tense weeks that generated public sympathy for
Romero -- along with questions about safety procedures and spending cuts in
Spain's health sector.
"We
have had a hard, worrying time since this started, but now little by little we
can see light at the end of the tunnel. These test results are a cause for
happiness," said Marta Arsuaga, one of the doctors treating Romero.
"We
have to wait for her to get back to the state of health she had before. Then we
will really be happy and ready to celebrate."
Officials
earlier said Romero had received blood serum from a patient who had survived
the disease. Doctors would not give any further details of other treatments she
may have received.
There is no
vaccine nor any widely available cure for Ebola but a number of experimental
treatments have been fast-tracked for development.
Health
safety 'failings'
Romero was
one of the nursing staff at the Carlos III hospital who treated two elderly
Spanish missionaries who caught the disease in Africa and died in Madrid in
August and September.
Her husband
Javier Limon and 14 other people who had contact with the nurse before she was
diagnosed are under observation at the hospital but none has yet shown
symptoms.
Arribas
said a specialist laboratory confirmed that a fourth and final round of tests
had shown Romero to be clear of the virus, though she might take "a few
days" to completely get over the symptoms.
Arribas
said that according to WHO guidelines, officials will have to wait until 42
days after the curing of the last infected patient to declare the country free
of Ebola.
The
haemorrhagic fever is passed by contact with the bodily fluids of those
infected. It begins with fever and can lead to diarrhoea, vomiting, internal
bleeding and organ failure.
The WHO in
its latest toll said 4,555 people had died from Ebola out of a total of 9,216
cases registered in seven countries as of October 14.
The spread
of the disease outside hard-hit African countries such as Liberia and Sierra
Leone has put governments around the world on alert.
The United
States has introduced health checks at airports for travellers from the region.
Two nurses fell ill in Texas after caring for a Liberian man who died from the
disease, but no more cases have been detected there for six days.
Shortly
after Romero was hospitalised, officials outraged health care staff by hinting
that the patient herself was to blame for getting infected.
Spain's
General Nursing Council released a report alleging what its chairman Maximo
Gonzalez described as "substantial failings" in health safety
procedures.
He told a
news conference that hospital staff treating Ebola patients were given
ill-fitting protective gloves and permeable overalls and were not properly
trained in how to put them on and take them off.
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