http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2014/10/us_hospitals_ready_to_treat_eb.html
Notice the ‘protective gear’ those nurses are wearing.
That’s approximately what the spaniards recommended and used to treat their patients.
Now, contrast that with WHO guidelines that indicate need for a respirator. And pics of MSF workers who can’t afford respirators but use TWO masks and a lot more gear:
http://pulse.ng/news/disturbing-we-are-losing-battle-against-ebola-msf-reveals-id3101869.html
The AL workers are following CDC guidelines. MSF knows better...
So yeah, she likely got infected at work from incidental exposure. Probably because she was insufficiently protected. Due to cost cutting measures.
BTW, the other nurses are currently protesting this insufficient garb:
You’ll notice that now even the ambulance driver in one of the pictures is wearing WAY MORE garb than the official CDC guidelines.
And the spaniards are re-evaluating their protection procedures:
More information. She apparently didn’t go to the emergency room until she was already hemorrhaging. She also sat for a nursing exam a few days earlier, although I don’t know if she would have been contagious at that point.
Most of the other nurses apparently didn’t see her, and their info was second-hand because the emergency room was cordoned off once she came in. She announced in the emergency room that she had ebola, and by that time she didn’t have just a fever, but some of the really awful symptoms (the hemorrhaging, blisters, etc.).
Also, she said that she did in fact go to Carlos III first, and they sent her to Alcorcon! It sounds as if she already had the visible signs, too.
This hospital had just a handful of basic-level masks and the usual gloves, and virtually all of the personnel that handled her did so without protection.
Talk about unprepared. I saw a statement in the press from some EU health person airily saying that it can’t spread in Europe...but it already has, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more cases from this one.