Madrid's regional government said it would kill the pet dog of a Spanish nursing assistant who became infected with Ebola — overcoming the family's objections on Tuesday with a court order.
The nursing assistant was the first person infected outside of West Africa, after caring for a Spanish priest who died of Ebola last month. Authorities have three people under quarantine and said that available scientific knowledge indicates there's a risk the dog could transmit the deadly virus to humans.
There has been some evidence that dogs can get Ebola, and that people can be infected by animals. In Africa, the virus has been thought to spread as a result of handling bushmeat — wild animals hunted for food — and through contact with infected bats.
"There is one article in the medical literature that discusses the presence of antibodies to Ebola in dogs. Whether that was an accurate test and whether that was relevant we do not know,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said at a news conference Tuesday.
"We have not identified this as a means of transmission," Frieden added, although scientists do know that Ebola can infect mammals and the virus can spread that way.
Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said he had no knowledge of any animals exposed in Dallas.
The Spanish mixed-breed dog, Excalibur, will be euthanized in a way to avoid suffering and its body incinerated, the government said. A Change.org petition is asking the government to let the dog live.
The husband of a Spanish nursing assistant who contracted Ebola poses with his dog in this image posted to the Facebook page of Asociacion Protectora Villa Pepa.
You obviously say that the dog should live because you're safe at your homes in a country where Ebola hasn't spread. We can't take any more risks because our government f... it all up already.
And let me not with a certain comment in this thread, it'd better be a joke.
They are killing the dog IN CASE he has ebola, there is no evidence, and even if there was and he had the disease, many experts have said he shouldn't be killed; they couldn't avoid having the disease spread so now they wanna kill a dog to say "we got this!", but we know damn well they do not have a clue
You obviously say that the dog should live because you're safe at your homes in a country where Ebola hasn't spread. We can't take any more risks because our government f... it all up already. And let me not with a certain comment in this thread, it'd better be a joke.
It's clearly not. You know, he's from the land of the pressed, the eternal European wannabes.
You know, he's from the land of the pressed, the eternal European wannabes.