MADRID (AP) — Spain has sent a medically-equipped jet to Liberia to bring home a Spanish missionary priest who has tested positive for the Ebola virus, officials said Wednesday.
The priest, Miguel Pajares, will be treated at a hospital in Madrid after he arrives but public health general director Mercedes Vinuesa did not tell reporters which one.
Parajes was helping to treat people infected with Ebola and is one of three who tested positive at the San Jose de Monrovia Hospital in Liberia.
All work for the San Juan de Dios hospital order, a Catholic humanitarian group that runs hospitals around the world.
The other two infected aid workers were identified as Chantal Pascaline Mutwamene of Congo and Paciencia Melgar from Equatorial Guinea. Three other missionaries working at the hospital tested negative.
Vinuesa said the Defense Ministry Airbus 310 that will transport Pajares has medical equipment on board to treat more people if needed.
It’s the first time that someone infected with Ebola will be treated in Spain. Vinuesa downplayed possible public health risk concerns during a press conference.
“The (safety) protocols we will use guarantee minimum risk,” she said.
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