Madrid Nurse Has First Known Case of Ebola Transmission Outside Of Africa

She caught it, apparently, while caring for an Ebola patient that had been flown to Madrid. It is the first known transmission of the virus outside of Africa. Details are still a little sketchy, but the BBC is reporting she "tested positive" for the virus.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials spent the weekend trying to reassure the public that there is not going to be an outbreak in the United States. (Yes, I'm cannibalizing my own post at Hot Air. And why not?)

Over the weekend, the host of Ebola scares from D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, Hawaii, Utah, and Toronto were cleared, leaving Duncan as the only known U.S. patient. Calls from medical providers to the CDC over Ebola concerns have jumped to 800 per day, from 50 before Duncan’s case went public, indicating that the medical community is determined not to mess up like the Dallas hospital did with Duncan.

The gist of the CDC and NIAID directors' comments is that because Ebola is only transmissible after the patient becomes symptomatic and because all of the folks Duncan could have exposed are being watched to see if they become symptomatic, we won't see an explosive acceleration in cases like they saw in Africa.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 01:20 PM

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