'Ebola Heroes' granted citizenship by Spain

Two African missionaries, who played a role in the recovery of nursing assistant Teresa Romero from the Ebola virus, were granted Spanish citizenship in Madrid on Friday.

Paciencia Melgar Ronda (47) from Equatorial Guinea (pictured on the right wearing green) and 36-year-old Helena S. Wolo from Sierra Leone were granted citizenship by Spain after traveling to Madrid to donate blood plasma for the treatment of Romero.

Ronda contracted the virus working as a nurse in Liberia and volunteered to be used as a test case, so doctors could observe the long-term evolution of her recovery from Ebola.  Wolo traveled to Spain from Liberia and donated plasma which was then used in the treatment of Romero. According to doctors involved in the case, the two nurses' assistance had been vital to Romero's eventual recovery from Ebola.

Romero was the first person known to contract Ebola outside of Africa, after treating two Spanish missionaries who were repatriated from Sierra Leone, suffering from the virus.  Both missionaries eventually died.  Romero recovered and left hospital on November 5th. 

Ongoing Ebola news:

On Thursday last week, a Spanish health worker from the Spanish NGO Médicos sin Fronteras was repatriated from Mali after suffering a "high risk" needle-stick injury treating a patient with Ebola in Bamako, capital of Mali.

The health worker was admitted to Madrid's Carlos III hospital where she has been quarantined, but so far is asymptomatic, according to doctors.

Spanish sources:

20 Minutos
RTVE
The Local

Photo: Screengrab from YouTube video

Teresa Romero, Spain's Ebola nurse, heads home today

Teresa Romero, the 44-year-old nursing assistant considered to be the first to catch Ebola outside Africa, has received the all-clear from doctors and will be heading home on Wednesday.

 

Romero caught the virus while caring for Manuel García Viejo, one of the two missionaries infected with Ebola while treating patients in West Africa.  Viejo had been repatriated to Spain and died shortly after arrival in the country.

Romero was kept in isolation at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid from October 6th and has, with the help of doctors, managed to both survive and recover from the serious virus.

Dr. Jose Ramon Arribas, head of the hospital's infectious diseases unit, said as a press conference on October 20th,"The criteria set by the World Health Organization for curing the Ebola virus have been fulfilled. She is now cured."

There has been a further precautionary period of observation since then but she has now completely recovered from the virus. Romero told staff at the hospital that she is planning to visit her home town of Becerreá, near Lugo in the north-west of Spain.

While Romero has recovered completely, lawyers are finalizing a complaint against the Department of Health for the killing of Excalibur, the family dog, that was put down as a precautionary measure once Romero had been diagnosed with Ebola. Romero's husband, Javier Limón, said when leaving the hospital after completing a period of quarantine, Javier Rodriguez of the health department had killed his pet, something he saw as "a performance" and not a sacrifice.

Spanish Sources:

Telecinco
El Pais

Spain hit by two possible Ebola cases

Two people have been admitted to hospital this week with fears that they may be infected with the very contagious Ebola virus.  One is a 13-year-old boy in Mallorca and the other a 24-year-old man in the region of Murcia.  Both apparently flew into Spain in the last three weeks from Lagos in Nigeria.

Both patients are suffering symptoms similar to Ebola, including muscle pain and high temperatures, and are both are being kept in secure units under isolation, which have the necessary infrastructure to deal with highly infectious diseases.

The 13-year-old was taken to the Hospital Son Llàtzer, in Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, and the 24-year-old was hospitalized at the Hospital de Son Espases. In the meantime, blood samples from both patients have been sent to laboratories in Madrid, where scientists will be able to ascertain whether the two people are actually infected with Ebola.

Reuters is reporting that so far this year, approximately 2,300 people have died in what is the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded.  While Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are the worst affected countries, the disease is also spreading to Senegal and Nigeria as sick travelers carry the infection.

Update:

In a later update, it was confirmed that the 13-year-old boy is not suffering from the highly infectious disease.  Also the child was also not infected with malaria, according to doctors.

At present, the 24-year-old Nigerian man remains in isolation.

Sources:

Diario de Mallorca

La Razon

Photo: CC by 2.5 Ayacop