[UPDATE: The dog is now dead, WSJ reports.]
For anyone concerned about Spain’s ability to contain Ebola, after a Spanish nurse’s aide tested positive for the virus, fear not: Madrid’s regional government plans to euthanize the infected woman’s pet dog in the interest of combatting contagion.
The dog, a 12-year-old mutt named Excalibur, shows no sign of infection, and it’s unclear whether the disease even can be transmitted from dogs to humans. A 2005 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that ‘dogs might be asymptomatically infected by Ebola virus,’ and that during Gabon’s 2001-02 outbreak, ‘several dogs were highly exposed to Ebola virus by eating infected dead animals.’
‘We cannot take the risk,’ Felipe Vilas, of Madrid’s Official College of Veterinarians, tells El Pais.
The infected woman’s husband Javier Romero, who is also in quarantine, said he was contacted by the Madrid authorities on Tuesday asking for his consent to kill the dog.
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