Spanish nurse tests negative for Ebola as Nigeria may be declared Ebola-free

The Spanish nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa has tested negative for the virus, the government said. Teresa Romero, 44, is no longer infected - although a second test is required before she can be declared free of Ebola, the result suggests, BBC reported. Tests on Romero, hospitalized earlier this month with a high fever and treated in an isolation unit in a specially-adapted hospital in central Madrid, gave a negative result for the virus on Sunday, it said in a statement. Usually patients must take another test within 72 hours to be given the all-clear from the disease, which has killed thousands in West Africa.

We all have a stake in the battle against Ebola…It is the duty of all of us, as global citizens, to send a message that we will not leave millions of West Africans to fend for themselves.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Isolated cases among health workers in the U.S. and Europe have sparked fear that the epidemic could turn global and prompted Western countries to ramp up their response. Liberian President Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said a generation of Africans were at risk of “being lost to economic catastrophe” because of the crisis, warning that the “time for talking or theorising is over”. The deadly virus, for which there is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine, spreads via contact with bodily fluids. But some countries have managed to get a handle on the outbreak, with Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria expected to be declared free of the deadly virus on Monday after 42 days without registering any new infections.

Spanish nurse Europe