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Spain Ebola Case Confirmed: People 'Freaking Out'

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There's new concern Tuesday of a European Ebola outbreak as doctors in Spain confirmed the first known case of the virus spreading outside the outbreak zone in West Africa.

A nurse who helped treat infected missionaries who were flown home has tested positive for the disease.

Spanish health officials said she's being treated in isolation and are working to keep the virus from spreading further.

"We are getting a list of all those who could possibly have been in contact with her. We will be in touch with all these people to see up to which point there could have been contagion," Antonio Alemany, Madrid's director of primary health care, told reporters.

Now the EU is grilling Spanish authorities, demanding to know how the virus could have spread.

"People are freaked out," a cardiologist at the hospital told Agence-France Press. "We cannot understand how someone who was wearing a double protection suit and two pairs of gloves could have been contaminated."

Meanwhile in the United States, lawmakers are urging the White House to restrict travel from the West African countries affected by Ebola.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention argues such a move would only hurt the U.S. response to the outbreak and put Americans at greater risk.

In the meantime, U.S. health officials remain on high alert as two Ebola patients continue to receive treatment.

In Dallas, Thomas Duncan remains in critical condition, while in Nebraska, American journalist Ashoka Mukpo is showing only mild symptoms so far.

"He sounds very strong and I think he shares in the relief of the rest of his family that he's been able to come back for good medical treatment here," Mukpo's mother, Diana, said.

Public hospitals are also enacting special protocols to help medical professionals recognize Ebola.

Some in New York City have even gone so far as to send in actors pretending to have Ebola symptoms in order to test the staff.

Health care providers are hanging signs telling patients to immediately inform staff if they have traveled to West Africa recently.

And many hospitals, including small ones, are setting up quarantine quarters and stocking up on tools necessary to help contain the virus.

One of the nation's largest ambulance companies has created a step-by-step tutorial on how to wrap the interior of a rig while transporting a possible Ebola patient.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said that ending the Ebola crisis is a "top national security priority."

He said the United States is working on protocols to do additional screenings of airline passengers arriving from West Africa.

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About The Author

Caitlin Burke Headshot
Caitlin
Burke

Caitlin Burke serves as National Security Correspondent and a general assignment reporter for CBN News. She has also hosted the CBN News original podcast, The Daily Rundown. Some of Caitlin’s recent stories have focused on the national security threat posed by China, America’s military strength, and vulnerabilities in the U.S. power grid. She joined CBN News in July 2010, and over the course of her career, she has had the opportunity to cover stories both domestically and abroad. Caitlin began her news career working as a production assistant in Richmond, Virginia, for the NBC affiliate WWBT