Three more people were placed under quarantine for Ebola at a Madrid hospital where a Spanish nursing assistant became infected

Why Spanish nursing assistant is such a troubling Ebola case


News of the quarantines hit Spain's stock market Tuesday. Spain is one of Europe's biggest tourist destinations and stocks in tourism-related companies such as airlines and hotel chains fell on the Madrid stock exchange as investors feared the consequences of the Ebola case.

Shares in International Airlines Group, formed in early 2011 by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, dropped more than 6 percent, while those of NH Hotel Group and Melia Hotels were down 4 percent. The Ibex 35 stock market index was 1.7 percent lower.

The nursing assistant's husband has shown no signs of having the disease but was hospitalized as a precaution, said Dr. Francisco Arnalich, head of internal medicine at the Carlos III hospital where all were under quarantine.

In addition, a nurse who also treated the priest who died Sept. 25 was put into quarantine after experiencing diarrhea but she did not have a fever, the most common initial symptom for Ebola. And a Nigerian man who recently arrived in Spain was also under quarantine but tested negative for Ebola in his first test.

Public Health Director Mercedes Vinuesa told Parliament that authorities were drawing up a list of other people who may have had contact with the nurse. She has not been publicly identified but has no children.


By Tuesday, authorities had gotten in touch with 22 people - including relatives and personnel at the hospital in the Madrid suburb of Alcorcon where she went early Monday with a fever. They were also monitoring about 30 other members of the health care team that treated Manuel Garcia Viejo, the priest who returned from Sierra Leone and died of the disease.

The Health Ministry's chief coordinator for health emergencies, Fernando Simon, told Cadena SER radio the nursing assistant was in stable condition and her life not in immediate danger. Health officials said she had no symptoms besides fever. Simon said the nursing assistant's husband was "OK and relatively calm."

He also rejected criticism that Spain authorities were slow to react to the case.

About 20 health care workers at the hospital protested Tuesday amid claims by nursing union officials that Spain was not giving them enough training and the most modern Ebola protection equipment.


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