Doc: Spanish woman touched face with Ebola glove

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Doc: Spanish woman touched face with Ebola glove

Wed, 2014-10-08 10:47 — mike kraft

SITUATION IN SPAIN WHERE A NURSE HAS BEEN HOSPITALISED FOR SUSPECTED EBOLA: THREE RELATED STORIES

Health workers attend a protest outside Madrid's La Paz Hospital calling for the national health minister's resignation after a Spanish nurse contracted Ebola. (Andrea Comas/Reuters)

ASSOCIATED PRESS OCT. 8, 2014

By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY and CIARAN GILES

MADRID (AP) - Spanish health officials were investigating Wednesday whether a nursing assistant infected with Ebola got the deadly disease by touching her face with Ebola-tainted protective gloves, while a strike by Ebola burial teams in Sierra Leone left abandoned bodies in the streets of the capital.

More than 3,400 people have been killed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has hit Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia hardest. The case of Spanish nursing assistant Teresa Romero has shown that health workers can contact Ebola even in highly sophisticated medical centers in Europe.

In Madrid, Dr. German Ramirez of the Carlos III hospital said Romero remembers she once touched her face with the gloves after leaving the quarantine room where an Ebola victim was being treated.

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http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=xFv7ALhV

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Spanish Government reaction

Spanish Prime Minister Defends Handling of Ebola Case

By RAPHAEL MINDER OCT. 8, 2014

MADRID — Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy defended his government’s handling of Western Europe’s first Ebola case on Wednesday, telling Parliament that he was confident Spain could contain the virus.

“We will overcome this,” Mr. Rajoy said. He pledged “total transparency” about how the authorities handled the case and said he understood Spaniards’ concerns. An auxiliary nurse tested positive for the illness on Monday after tending to a missionary who died from the virus after being sent back from Sierra Leone....

Mr. Rajoy said that Spain had “one of the best” health care systems in the world and that any criticism of the handling of the case should not spiral into a broader political crisis. Some opposition lawmakers have been calling since Monday for Health Minister Ana Mato to resign.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/world/europe/spain-nurse-ebola.html?_r=0

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Earlier story and more background

THE WASHINGTON POST OCT. 7, 2014

by Abby Phillip and Roberto A. Ferdman

A vexing mystery in Spain: How did a nurse contract Ebola

The first case of Ebola transmission outside of West Africa has raised questions about how a nurse at a Spanish hospital contracted the virus and whether sufficient protocols were in place to protect health workers there.

The nurse became infected at Madrid's Carlos III hospital while treating Manuel Garcia Viejo, a priest who contracted the virus in West Africa. The woman, a "sanitary technician," entered Garcia Viejo's room only twice, according to Spanish officials.

In one case, she entered the room to change his diaper; another time, after he had died, she entered to collect his belongings, according to Mercedes Vinuesa Sebastian, Spain's public health director. Both times, the nurse wore personal protective equipment.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/07/after-nurse-contracts-ebola-spanish-health-workers-raise-concerns-about-protective-equipment/

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