First Ebola transmission outside of Africa reported

The BBC is reporting that a Spanish nurse has contracted Ebola after treating a patient in Madrid. The patient in question, a priest who worked in West Africa, died in late September after returning to his native Spain. If he was the cause of the nurse's infection, then it would represent the first transmission of the virus outside the range of the current epidemic.

Health care workers in West Africa have frequently contracted Ebola due to the lack of advanced isolation facilities there. But the availability of these facilities in developed countries has been a key factor in limiting the spread of the virus outside of Africa, even as infected individuals returned home without knowing that they were infected or were brought home for treatment. This apparent instance of transmission may heighten tensions regarding our ability to limit the spread of the virus in an era where intercontinental travel is commonplace.

These tensions were on display as a flight from Belgium arrived in New Jersey this weekend, bearing a sick passenger who traveled to West Africa. A full evaluation of his status in a local hospital revealed no cause for concern, according to the Centers for Disease Control.