Spain Ebola patient may be free of virus, test shows

Teresa Romero will have a second test to confirm the result, the government committee set up to handle Spain's efforts to contain the disease, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. All 15 people in hospital quarantine because they had close contact with her continue to show no symptoms, the committee said. "She now has no virus and we're waiting for the second result," said Teresa Mesa, a spokeswoman for Romero's family, in televised comments late yesterday. "I've spoken to her and she's in great form -- she was crying and laughing." Romero was diagnosed with Ebola on Oct. 6 after helping to care for two Spanish missionaries who contracted the illness in Africa and died at Carlos III hospital in Madrid. Her Ebola diagnosis sparked a debate in Spain about the readiness of the country's health service after budget cuts and the adequacy of its procedures for containing the virus, Bloomberg reports. "Two negative tests are taken as evidence that the virus is no longer in the patient so they are declared cured," Andrew Easton, a professor at the U.K.'s University of Warwick, said by e-mail today. "They will be subject to follow up for a little time to ensure that there are no residual effects due to the damage to tissues and organs."