The confirmed case of Ebola in Spain has been blamed on substandard equipment and a failure to follow protocol.
Staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid claim that the protective suits used did not meet World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
Such suits must be impermeable and have a breathing apparatus. Staff said the latex gloves were secured with adhesive tape which indicated that suits were not waterproof and said they did not have their own breathing equipment.
No official announcement has been made on how the virus spread to the nurse, a 40-year-old woman who has not been named. But statements from the staff differ from those of health officials who say the protocol was followed.
Doctors are monitoring 50 people who came into contact with the nurse at two different Madrid hospitals, according to health sources quoted by Spanish newspaper El Pais. They include an ambulance crew, and doctors and nurses.
Three other people, including the nurse's husband, have been put into quarantine.
The European Commission has sought explanation from Spain on how the virus managed to spread when all EU countries were supposed to have implemented measures against this.
Spanish health authorities said that Ebola patient treatment is always by WHO protocols. The nurse would have been in one patent’s room just twice, said Antonio Alemany, from the regional government of Madrid, both times wearing protective equipment.
“We don’t know yet what failed,” Alemany said. “We are investigating the mechanism of infection.”
The WHO regional director said that “Europe is still at low risk and that the western part of the European region particularly is the best prepared in the world to respond to viral haemorrhagic fevers including Ebola.”
