Norwegian Tests Positive in Sierra Leone

Four more potential cases of Ebola were under observation Tuesday in Spain, health authorities said Tuesday, a day after a nurse's assistant became the first person known to have contracted the deadly virus outside Africa in the current outbreak.

The woman helped treat two Spanish missionaries, both of whom had contracted Ebola in West Africa, one in Liberia and the other in Sierra Leone. Both died after returning to Spain.

The developments come just as the organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) reports that a Norwegian staff member has contracted the deadly virus. 

The staffer had been working in the Sierra Leone city of Bo and was placed in isolation Sunday after developing a fever, the organization said.

The worker is being sent to a treatment center in Europe.

In Spain, no details have yet been given of exactly how the nurse's assistant contracted the virus, and her condition is unknown.

Francisco Arnalis, head of internal medicine at the Carlos III Hospital, told a news conference that the three other potential Ebola cases are being monitored there.

A hospital spokeswoman said later Tuesday that another nurse's assistant -- who is on the same team as the infected nurse's assistant -- is under observation. 

This more recent case was admitted to the hospital after she "started having a little bit of a temperature," said the spokeswoman, who wasn't named as is customary in Spain.

Earlier, health officials explained that one of the people being monitored is the original nurse's assistant's husband, who faces a high risk of infection and had no protection. Another is a suspected case in a man who traveled overseas and has tested negative twice.

The fourth, a nurse, is not a suspected case but has been brought in as a precaution after suffering diarrhea. She was exposed, but she was wearing protective gear, Arnalis said.

Thirty people from Carlos III Hospital and 22 others -- from Alcorcon hospital plus family members -- are being monitored, according to authorities. It was not immediately known whether the nurse's assistant hospitalized late Tuesday was one of these 30 contacts at Carlos III Hospital.

The hospital will not release information about the status of the nurse's assistant, who has not been named, in order to respect her privacy, director Rafael Santamaria said.

The hospital has two potential treatments at its disposal, said Dr. Jose Ramon Arribas, one using an IV drip with the antibodies of Ebola survivors and the other an antiviral drug.

"This is a treatment that the WHO (World Health Organization) has recommended, even though they haven't verified its efficacy," he said of the IV drip. CONTINUE READING

SOURCE: CNN