Ebola: Spanish Priest With Ebola Virus in 'Stable Condition'

A Spanish priest infected with the deadly Ebola virus was in "stable clinical condition" after being evacuated from Liberia on an air force jet and admitted Thursday to a hospital here, Spanish health officials said.

Father Miguel Pajares, a 75-year-old missionary, is being treated in a special isolation unit of Madrid's Carlos III Hospital, after landing in Spain around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Before the airlift, the Spanish religious worker had been quarantined in the San Jose de Monrovia Hospital in Liberia after testing positive for Ebola. On Thursday, Father Pajares was "a little disoriented" and feverish, but wasn't bleeding, Rafael Santamaría, a Spanish medical official, said.

Medical workers transporting Father Pajares to the hospital from an air force base outside Madrid took great pains to avoid exposure to the virus. The health workers donned protective body suits and carried Father Pajares in a sealed-off bubble stretcher. Father Pajares was escorted from the air force base to the hospital by a lengthy convoy medical and police vehicles.

On the flight from Liberia, Father Pajares was accompanied by a nun from Equatorial Guinea, who Spanish press reports said holds Spanish citizenship. She had tested negative for Ebola, but was also admitted to an isolation unit in the hospital, as a precautionary measure. Spanish health officials described her as being in "a generally good condition."

Ebola, whose symptoms can begin with fever and nausea and progress to internal bleeding, has been known to kill up to 90% of those it infects. It spreads through contact with bodily fluids. There is no vaccine or cure.

Source: onlinewsj