EBOLA AND PETS (ARTICLE AND VIDEO WITH SCRIPT)

Dog of Dallas nurse raises questions about Ebola and pets (click on the link to watch the video)

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Bentley, Nina Pham's dog, has tested negative for Ebola. The dog will continue to be monitored for the full 21-day period, the same as the human guidelines for those exposed to Ebola. 

Texas nurse Nina Pham is the first person to contract Ebola within the U.S. She's currently being treated at a Dallas hospital — but what will happen to her pet dog?

It was the same question raised in response to a nurse who contracted Ebola in Spain. The Madrid later government made the decision to have the woman's dog euthanized, over fears it could be a carrier of the virus.

But it seems Pham's dog will avoid that same fate. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told USA Today the dog will be kept safe and quarantined in another location while Pham is treated. Her apartment is also being decontaminated.

The Dallas Police Department has even been keeping the public updated on the dog during this process.

Ebola outbreak facts

But why is there so much attention on a furry friend? Some media outlets note what happened in Spain versus the States highlights what experts don't know.

The reality is — there's not a lot of information about the risk of Ebola in animals or whether humans can even become infected by domesticated pets.

Here's what we do know — The Washington Post points out Ebola can spread to humans by way of other mammals. One possible way is by eating infected meat. But it's still unclear whether dogs transmit Ebola through bodily fluids in the same way humans do.

A medical expert tells CNN this shouldn't worry anyone. "Pets have not been a feature of Ebola spread, whether in Africa and certainly not here in the developed world."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been no reported Ebola sicknesses in dogs or cats so far. Probably because there isn't even a known test available for animals.

As for why the dog in Spain was euthanized, the International Society for Infectious Diseases says, "In some legal systems, as in the law of the European Union, the application of the precautionary principle has been made a statutory requirement in some areas of law."

Nina Pham continues to receive treatment as her dog is kept safe. She says she is currently doing well after receiving a blood transfusion.

SPANISH NURSE INFECTED WITH EBOLA

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/08/world/europe/ebola-spain/index.html

Click on the link to listen to the news

SCRIPT

Spanish officer authorities are saying now that they are monitoring 3 more potential cases of Ebola in Spain today after a nurses’ assistant became the first person to contract the deadly virus outside Africa during this epidemic. Authorities say the nurse’s assistant helped treat two Ebola stricken priests after they returned to Spain from two countries at the centre of the crisis. Both patients died, in fact, other doctors and nurses say the priests were almost dead upon arrival back in the country which is in itself raising all kinds of questions about why the priests were moved in the first place. 

Spanish authorities have even announced that they will put down the infected woman’s dog because some research shows there is a risk that dogs could transmit the virus to humans . CNN Isa Soares is live for us in Madrid Spain. Isa, what is the latest on this patient’s condition?

Hi Jake, yes, well, what we know is that she’s doing ok given the severity obviously of Ebola. We know from doctors here that she is on an IV drip with antibodies from other Ebola survivors. We also know that she is receiving an anti-viral drug that is being recommended by the World Health Organization. But today, Jake it hasn’t been so much about this auxiliary nurse, it has in fact been about the protests here on the streets. Perhaps the fact that this hospital behind me wasn’t ready to receive or to deal with Ebola in the first place. We have seen protests and protests yesterday, we have seen protests today, we are expecting to see protests tomorrow people from nurses to really trade unions. Unions that have come up today telling CNN that this hospital didn’t have the means, the capacity to deal with this and they basically told CNN that the equipment that they had really wasn’t up to scratch, it wasn’t up to the standard of the World Health Organisation. One trade union basically say it didn’t have a clothing that had a level 4 biological security and basically, what it means is that, it wasn’t fully water proof, it wasn’t fully impermeable. Also said they didn’t have an independent breathing apparatus. This has also come out in main newspapers here, El País, a very well-known newspaper here, where really health workers have been telling El País instead of having a level 4 equipment rather, they had a level 2, so very, very poor, substandard and in fact they had latex gloves and their gloves were bound with adhesive tape. So all these really puts into perspective why we’re seeing three more suspected cases of Ebola here. They are trying to figure out this hospital wasn’t in fact ready and nurses here tour telling CNN Jake that back in July they signed a letter and took it to court basically saying “ if anyone comes to Spain, if anyone is brought from west Africa, we will not have the means to deal with this. So the warnings signs were there Jake.