Ebola cases

A US nurse held in quarantine in New Jersey after treating Ebola patients in West Africa says she will challenge her confinement in a federal court.

Kaci Hickox said she was made to feel like a criminal after returning from Sierra Leone last Friday. Her lawyer says the case has raised "serious constitutional and civil liberties issues". The White House and mayor of New York have expressed concerns over new strict quarantine orders in several US states. The new rules in New York, New Jersey and Illinois require a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for all health workers who have had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa and just returned to the US. On Sunday New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an easing of the quarantine restrictions in his state. Under the latest guidelines, returning health workers who have displayed no symptoms can return to their homes for the quarantine period, where they will be monitored twice daily. Compensation will be offered for loss of earnings. Governor Cuomo was later quoted by Reuters as saying that the state wanted to encourage health workers to go to the Ebola outbreak zone. 'Too broad' The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said that all returning US health workers should be "treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they have done".
She was speaking on the first leg of her tour of the three countries worst hit by the Ebola outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. More than 10,000 people have contracted the Ebola virus, with 4,922 deaths, according to the World Health Organization's latest figures. All but 27 of the cases have occurred inside Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Ms Hickox, of medical charity Doctors Without Borders, described the experience of being put into quarantine at Newark airport in New Jersey as "frightening" and a "frenzy of disorganisation".

The White House has warned that such restrictions could put off aid workers and others travelling to West Africa to help mitigate the crisis at its source.

Meanwhile, the US ambassador to the UN criticised the level of international support for nations hit by Ebola. Some nations who had offered backing "haven't taken responsibility yet" in supplying aid and doctors, Samantha Power said shortly before arriving in Guinea. Ms Power last week said the international community "isn't just losing the race to Ebola. We are getting lapped", and even praised Cuba - under a US embargo for decades - for its supply of doctors to Sierra Leone. The US has pledged 4,000 troops to build hospitals and to train health workers in West Africa, some 600 of whom have already arrived. Her lawyer, Norman Siegel, said her isolation raised civil liberty issues given that she has displayed no Ebola symptoms and did not test positive for the virus. "We're not going to dispute that the government has, under certain circumstances, the right to issue a quarantine," he said, adding that "the policy is overly broad when applied to her". But New Jersey Governor Chris Christie defended the quarantine measures on Sunday, saying it would "become a national policy sooner rather than later". Revised regulations New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has described Ms Hickox as a "returning hero", but said that she had been "treated with disrespect" when put into quarantine. "We owe her better than that and all the people better than that," he told reporters outside New York's Bellevue Hospital, where an American doctor, Craig Spencer, is being treated for the virus. The stricter measures were put in place after Dr Spencer tested positive for Ebola on his return from Guinea last week and unwittingly moved around the city before the symptoms developed.

Ebola crisis: Infected Spanish nurse 'may have touched face'

A doctor in Madrid says the Spanish nurse infected with Ebola remembers touching her face with her gloves after treating a dying priest. The nurse, Teresa Romero, is the first person known to have contracted the deadly virus outside West Africa. She had treated two Spanish missionaries who later died from Ebola. A World Health Organization adviser has warned that more Ebola cases can be expected among medical staff, even in developed countries. Ms Romero, a 40-year-old auxiliary nurse, remains in quarantine in the Spanish capital along with her husband and three other people. A fifth person, said to be a friend and colleague of Ms Romero, was admitted on Wednesday morning with a slight fever. In all, more than 50 people in Spain are under observation.

The infected nurse had been part of a team of about 30 staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid looking after the missionaries when they were repatriated from West Africa. Miguel Pajares, 75, died on 12 August after contracting the virus in Liberia, while Manuel Garcia Viejo, 69, died on 25 September after catching the disease in Sierra Leone.

Nurse 'doing better'

Ms Romero told the El Pais newspaper that she might have become infected when removing her protective suit after cleaning Mr Garcia Viejo's room. "I think the error was the removal of the suit," she told El Pais by phone. "I can see the moment it may have happened, but I'm not sure about it." She added that she did not have a fever on Wednesday and was "doing better". In another development, the woman's husband, Javier Limon, is reported to be fighting a court order to have their pet dog put down over fears it could be carrying the disease. Animal rights groups have also criticised the move, saying there is no evidence Ebola has been spread by dogs.

In Sierra Leone, burial teams are reported to have gone on strike because they have not been paid

Several aid organisations have criticised the global response to the outbreak, saying more needs to be done

In other developments:

First person to be diagnosed with Ebola within the US has died, Texas hospital confirms

The US will begin screening passengers from affected countries as soon as this weekend

The UK is sending 750 troops to Sierra Leone to help build Ebola treatment centre

The World Bank has warned that the economic cost of the virus could exceed $32bn (£20bn)

Meanwhile, the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Sierra Leone says the rest of the world is not doing enough to combat the outbreak of the Ebola virus.

Cristina Falconi, MSF's chief in Sierra Leone, told the BBC that more staff, supplies and facilities were needed immediately to have any chance of halting the spread of the disease in West Africa. "We need people, more people on the ground, more means of transport, more facilities, more beds. But also good management of these facilities," Ms Falconi told the BBC's Tulip Mazumdar. In Sierra Leone, burial workers were reported to have gone on strike this week, leaving the bodies of Ebola victims on the streets of the capital, Freetown. Local media said the teams had abandoned their posts in anger over unpaid wages, but Deputy Health Minister Madina Rahman insisted on Wednesday that the strike had been "resolved" and the staff would soon return to work. The BBC's Umaru Fofana in Sierra Leone says burial teams in the eastern district of Kenema remain on strike, saying they are owed four weeks' wages by the government. In neighbouring Liberia, health workers say they will go on strike if their demands for more money and safety equipment are not met by the end of the week.
Some 3,400 people have died in the current outbreak, with the majority of the deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Spanish nurse Teresa Romero Ramos is in quarantine after being infected in Madrid

Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has the virus and the only way to stop an outbreak is to isolate those who are infected. Earlier on Wednesday, US officials announced travellers from Ebola-affected countries will face increased security scrutiny at American airports. The Department of Homeland Security has ordered agents at airports and other ports to take temperatures and question passengers at five US airports. The new security measures, rolled out by the Transportation Security Administration, will reportedly take effect this weekend or early next week. While Duncan was the first person to be diagnosed within the US, three American aid workers and a photojournalist contracted the virus in Liberia.

First US Ebola case Thomas Duncan 'critical'

The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola within the US has deteriorated from a serious to a critical condition, doctors in the state of Texas say. Thomas Duncan, who caught the virus in his native Liberia, is being treated at a Dallas hospital in isolation. Earlier it emerged that the flat where he lived is being cleaned by hazardous materials specialists and its remaining four occupants moved to a private home.

Some 3,431 people have died in West Africa in the worst Ebola outbreak yet.
On Friday, a senior US military figure said the US could deploy as many as 4,000 troops to the region to help contain the outbreak, which has hit hardest in West African four nations. While Mr Duncan is the first person to be diagnosed within the US, three American aid workers and a photojournalist contracted the virus in Liberia. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital issued a six-word statement about Thomas Duncan on Saturday, saying only that "Mr Duncan is in critical condition."
On Friday, a senior US military figure said the US could deploy as many as 4,000 troops to the region to help contain the outbreak, which has hit hardest in West African four nations. While Mr Duncan is the first person to be diagnosed within the US, three American aid workers and a photojournalist contracted the virus in Liberia. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital issued a six-word statement about Thomas Duncan on Saturday, saying only that "Mr Duncan is in critical condition."
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US Ebola patient Thomas Duncan dies in hospital

The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola within the US has died, Texas hospital officials have said.

Kerry: "Ebola is an urgent global crisis that demands an urgent global response."

Thomas Eric Duncan, who caught the virus in his native Liberia, was being kept in isolation in a Dallas hospital and receiving experimental drugs.

Earlier the US announced new screening measures at entry points to check travellers for symptoms of the virus. More than 3,000 people have died and 7,500 infected, mostly in West Africa, in the worst Ebola outbreak yet. "It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am," a spokesman said in a statement. The news came shortly after US Secretary of State John Kerry urged all nations to boost their response to combat the virus. "More countries can and must step up," he said in a joint press conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond.
The US has pledged as many as 4,000 troops to the region, while the UK is sending 750 military personnel to Sierra Leone. Duncan, who worked as a driver for a courier company, tested positive in Dallas, Texas, on 30 September, 10 days after arriving on a flight from Monrovia via Brussels.

He become ill a few days after arriving in the US but after going to hospital and telling them he had been to Liberia he was sent home with antibiotics. Four days later, he was placed in isolation but his condition continued to worsen and this week he was given an experimental drug. Ten people he came into contact with are being monitored for symptoms. Following Duncan's diagnosis, the first case of contagion outside that continent was confirmed in Spain, where a nurse who treated an Ebola victim in Madrid contracted the virus herself.