MADRID: A Spanish nurse who was the first person to catch Ebola outside Africa has been cured of the deadly virus, doctors confirmed on Tuesday, easing fears of it spreading in Europe.

Doctors at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid said definitive test results showed Teresa Romero, 44, was free of the virus, which has killed more than 4,500 people in west Africa.

“The criteria set by the World Health Organisation for curing the Ebola virus have been fulfilled,” Doctor Jose Ramon Arribas, head of the hospital’s infectious diseases unit, told a news conference.

The news was met with relief after two tense weeks that generated public sympathy for Romero — along with questions about safety procedures and spending cuts in Spain’s health sector.

“We have had a hard, worrying time since this started, but now little by little we can see light at the end of the tunnel. These test results are a cause for happiness,” said Marta Arsuaga, one of the doctors treating Romero.

“We have to wait for her to get back to the state of health she had before.

Then we will really be happy and ready to celebrate”. Officials earlier said Romero had received blood serum from a patient who had survived the disease. Doctors would not give any further details of other treatments she may have received.

There is no vaccine nor any widely available cure for Ebola but a number of experimental treatments have been fast-tracked for development.Romero was one of the nursing staff at the Carlos III hospital who treated two elderly Spanish missionaries who caught the disease in Africa and died in Madrid in August and September.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014