Spanish Ebola nurse whose dog was put down adopts new pet
- Published
A Spanish nurse whose dog was put down while she was in quarantine with Ebola has adopted a new pet.
A rescue centre said nursing assistant Teresa Romero had rescued Alma, an American Staffordshire Terrier.
Her original dog, Excalibur, was euthanized by Spanish authorities to try to stop the spread of Ebola.
Protesters chanting "assassins" demonstrated outside her flat and an online campaign began calling for the dog not to be destroyed.
Many campaigners posted pictures of their own pets on Twitter with signs saying #SalvemosExcalibur, Spanish for "Let's save Excalibur".
Despite the protests, the dog was put down.
Romero's husband, Javier Limon, described Excalibur as "the son we never had", and said officials had missed an opportunity to study whether Ebola can be transmitted by dogs.
The Cipa rescue centre in the Madrid suburb of Alcorcon said the couple's new dog Alma was gorgeous and thanked Teresa and Javier for adopting her.
Ms Romero survived Ebola after contracting the virus in Spain and says she still doesn't know how she caught it.
It's thought she may have contracted it after treating two missionaries who later died from Ebola.
More than 8,500 people have died in the outbreak, with the vast majority in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
World Health Organisation figures show 21,724 reported cases of Ebola in the outbreak.
In some studies of previous outbreaks dogs were seen to have antibodies against the virus in their blood - proteins that fight Ebola.
Their presence suggest dogs were exposed to Ebola at some point and their bodies mounted a defence against it.
But whether the virus actually causes illness in dogs and whether dogs can then spread it on to humans remains unclear.
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