Spanish Nurse Teresa Romero is Now Ebola-Free

Spanish auxiliary nurse Teresa Romero, who became infected with Ebola while treating a patient with the disease, has tested negative for the virus in a second test performed on the weekend, although that does not mean that she is “free” of the virus with yet another test being required to determine that, the results of which will not be known for 24 to 48 hours.

The spokesperson for Romero’s family, Teresa Mesa, told reporters that there was “zero” Ebola in the nurse’s system, according to the report from the Carlos III Hospital where she is being treated.

Mesa said that although the doctors are optimistic that the virus has been eradicated within Romero, it is best to be prudent in a situation like this and wait for the additional results.

The spokesperson also said that Romero had been informed of the negative test result and is euphoric about the news. “She’s spectacular, she’s already getting up, eating practically everything and is very, very good.”

She added that Romero is walking around her hospital room, although she still gets tired easily, but no longer needs to be on oxygen.

Earlier Sunday, it was reported that the 15 other people who remain hospitalized because they were in contact with Romero are still “asymptomatic.”

A communique released earlier in the day by the Special Committee overseeing the management of the Ebola virus in Spain, Romero, the first person to contract the disease outside of Africa, was “progressing favorably.”

Romero, who has been hospitalized since she began to show Ebola symptoms 21 days ago, came down with the disease while treating a Spanish religious worker who had picked up the virus in Sierra Leone and died a few days later in Spain.

Meanwhile, the three people who are being most closely monitored – a man who used the same ambulance as Romero, a traveler from Nigeria and a Spanish volunteer worker – are awaiting the results of a second molecular biology test used to identify the virus after the first tests performed on them failed to confirm that they had become infected.

Published in Latino Daily News