The Spanish nurse who became the first person in Europe to become infected with Ebola says she ‘hasn’t the slightest idea’ how she contracted the killer disease.
Teresa Romero Ramos, 44, from Galicia in northwest Spain, one of the medical team that treated two repatriated Spanish priests who died from Ebola, was diagnosed with the illness on Monday.
She is now being held in quarantine at a hospital in Madrid under police guard but terrifyingly said she followed all safety protocols but still became ill.
Ebola is spread via bodily fluids like vomit or diarrhoea, but Mrs Romero Ramos wore a protective suit and there are fears the clothing did not meet safety standards.
When asked how she thinks she became ill she told El Mundo: ‘I can’t tell you, I haven’t the slightest idea’.
She was asked if she did anything that would have put herself at risk she said: ‘No, not at all,’ adding ‘yes, I followed protocols’.
Mrs Romero Ramos said days after contracting Ebola: ‘I’m a little better now’ but would not expand on her health and was described as struggling to speak by the journalist who briefly interviewed her.
Her husband Javier Limon Romero, who is also in quarantine over fears he may too have contracted the disease, said his wife was not worried about getting ill and volunteered to help the priests.
‘She volunteered. Other people run way. But not Teresa,’ he said.
‘I have heard that others called in sick. But not Teresa. She asked to be sent there.’
Armed police have been spotted outside the nurse’s Madrid home in the suburb of Alcorcon, as curious members of the public gathered outside.
Their identities came out after Mr Romero asked a Spanish animal charity to start a social media campaign to stop health officials putting his dog down, Daily Mail informs.
Her husband raged: ‘I want to publicly denounce a man called Zarco, who I think is Head of Health for the community of Madrid and who’s told me that I have to sacrifice my dog. He’s asked for my consent and I’ve denied it, to which he responded that they would ask for a court order to enter my house and sacrifice it.’
