http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/science/ebola-dog-excalibur-nurse-spain.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&_r=0Spain, Amid Protests, Kills Dog of Ebola-Infected Nurse
By RAPHAEL MINDER and PAM BELLUCKOCT. 8, 2014
María Teresa Romero Ramos with her dog Excalibur. Credit Pacma European Pressphoto Agency
MADRID — A dog named Excalibur who belonged to an Ebola-infected nurse was put down on Wednesday, even as protesters and animal rights activists surrounded the Madrid home of the nurse and her husband. A online petition calling for the dog’s life to be spared had drawn hundreds of thousands of signatures.
The furor came amid questions about whether dogs can get and transmit the disease.
In the United States, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas Skinner, said Wednesday that studies had shown that dogs can have an immune response to Ebola, meaning that they can become infected. But he said there have been no reports of dogs or cats developing Ebola symptoms or passing the disease to other animals or to people.
The death of Excalibur, a 12-year old rescue dog, was confirmed to reporters by Javier Rodríguez, an official from Madrid’s regional government, and the corpse was expected to be cremated.
The nurse’s husband had pleaded publicly with officials in Madrid to change their minds about putting down the dog. He told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that there was no indication that Excalibur was infected with Ebola. The nurse has been identified as María Teresa Romero Ramos.
Mr. Skinner said the disease centers were recommending that Ebola patients with dogs or cats at home “evaluate the animal’s risk of exposure,” meaning they should assess how likely it is that the animal has ingested bodily fluids like blood, vomit and feces from the patient. If the animal has been exposed, it should be monitored for 21 days, the incubation period for the disease.
