Professor Peter Piot said he was not surprised that a Spanish nurse had contracted the disease³. 

 

The nurse has become the first person known to have contracted the deadly virus outside West Africa.

 

She treated two Spanish missionaries⁴ who died of Ebola in Madrid.

 

The nurse, identified in media reports as Teresa Romero, looked after the pair after they were repatriated⁵ from West Africa. 

 

She remains⁶ in quarantine in the Spanish capital along with her husband and three other people. Another 50 people in Spain are being monitored.

 

The nurse told Spain's El Mundo's newspaper on Wednesday that she had followed the correct protocol⁷ and had "no idea" how she had become infected. She said she was feeling "a little better" but was very tired.

 

The fifth person to be placed under quarantine - who is reported to be a friend of the infected nurse and also a member of the Ebola care unit at the same hospital - was admitted on Wednesday morning with a slight fever.

 

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Madrid says hospital staff reported scenes of panic at work on Tuesday, with some people crying and others leaving the premises⁸.

 

Spanish media say neighbours of the infected nurse have been calling emergency services, asking how to protect their children after sharing lifts and public spaces.

 

In another development, the woman's husband is reported to be fighting a court order to have their pet dog put down over fears that it could be carrying the disease. Animal rights groups have also criticised the move, saying there is no evidence that Ebola has been spread by dogs.

 

Some 3,400 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak with most of the deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

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