Spain tests 4 sick people for Ebola, isolates airliner

MADRID -- Four people with fever considered at risk for Ebola were being tested Thursday in Spain for the virus, including one who arrived on an Air France jet that was isolated at Madrid's airport as a precaution, officials said.

Other passengers were allowed to disembark. But a passenger with a fever who had traveled from Nigeria was taken by ambulance with a driver wearing protective gear to Madrid's Carlos III hospital.

According to the CDC, there have been only a few reported cases of Ebola in the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Port Harcourt, and the outbreaks there have been contained.

Another person with a fever who came into contact with infected Spanish nursing assistant Teresa Romero before she was hospitalized on Oct. 6 was also sent to the same hospital, the Health Ministry said. Romero's condition, meanwhile, appeared to be improving, a ministry official said.

A missionary was transported to the hospital because he came down with a fever after returning to Spain from Liberia, where he treated Ebola patients, Spain's government said.

A fourth person, a Red Cross health worker who recently worked with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, was hospitalized with a fever in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, officials said. Two roommates showing no symptoms were placed in hospital isolation as a precaution.

The Air France flight carrying 163 people was isolated after arriving from Paris in a remote part of Madrid's airport for disinfection.

Meanwhile, Danish authorities tested a medical worker who had been in West Africa.

Sweden said it would give an additional 100 million kronor ($14 million) to support Ebola fighting efforts, on top of $140 million ($19 million) pledged previously.

In Geneva, a World Health Organization official said the Ebola death toll will rise to more than 4,500 this week from among 9,000 people infected.