A Madrid nurse who became the first person to contract ebola outside of Africa is being treated with antibodies from survivors of the illness, hospital officials have revealed.
Four people, also including her husband, were placed in quarantine at the hospital over fears they may also have the deadly virus, although one of those individuals has now tested negative.
The nurse was part of a medical team at the city's La Paz-Carlos III hospital that treated two Spanish missionaries who died shortly after returning from Africa with the disease.
A second nurse who also helped treat an infected priest was among the four initially being monitored by health workers, as was a man who arrived on a flight from Nigeria displaying symptoms.
Spain's health authorities said they had been in touch with a total of 22 people who are thought to have been in contact with the 40-year-old nurse, whose name has not been released.
They are also monitoring around 30 other members of the health care team that treated one of the missionaries.
Officials added that although the nurse began a holiday after one of the missionaries she had been caring for died on 25 September, she did not leave Madrid during this time.
She began feeling ill on 30 September and was diagnosed with ebola on Monday, but is in a stable condition.
EU countries have demanded an explanation from Spain's health minister as to how the nurse caught the disease, despite all the precautions taken
A spokesman said a letter sent to the health minister sought "to obtain some clarification" from Spanish authorities, adding: "The priority remains to find out what actually happened."
Spain's health minister, Ana Mato, said an emergency protocol is in place and that authorities are working to establish the source of the contagion at the Madrid hospital.
"We are working to guarantee the safety of all citizens," she said.
In the US, President Barack Obama says airport screening measures are being stepped up in the country to help identify people who might have the deadly virus.
More than 3,400 people have died in the latest ebola outbreak, which has swept through West African countries Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Prime Minister David Cameron is due to chair a Cobra meeting tomorrow to discuss the UK's response to the crisis.
"This is part of an ongoing series of Cobr meetings to coordinate the UK response that started in late July and has been in the diary for some time," a Downing Street spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the British Army said more than 100 British Army medics were being sent to Sierra Leone to help tackle the ebola crisis within the next few weeks.
Personnel from the 22 Field Hospital have been undergoing an extensive training exercise in full protective suits, with simulated casualties in make-up.
They will staff a field hospital set up specifically to treat medics who have caught the disease, not members of the general public.
An Army spokeswoman said: "They are going through all their procedures and getting atuned to wearing their personal protective equipment, working in quite hot temperatures."
Experts say quarantine systems in developed countries including the UK, US and Spain mean the disease is very unlikely to spread to the same extent seen in poor African countries.
But the World Health Organisation's European director Zsuzsanna Jakab said some further infections in Europe are "unavoidable".
"Such imported cases and similar events as have happened in Spain will happen also in the future, most likely," she said.
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Gallery: The Desperate Fight To Contain The Ebola Outbreak
A man rests outside the clinic.
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A woman is comforted after medical officials remove her husband, who is suspected of having the disease.
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Officials try to prevent themselves from spreading the disease.
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A local who has just brought his brother to the centre. He had to rely on plastic bags tied around his hands to try to protect himself.
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A man thought to be infected with ebola waits for treatment.
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Patients wait to be seen by medical staff.
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Workers try to decontaminate themselves.
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A worker with a child who may have caught ebola.
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A make-shift hand-washing station in Monrovia.
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Decontaminated boots of medical staff.
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The basic conditions make containing the disease very difficult.
"It is quite unavoidable ... that such incidents will happen in the future because of the extensive travel both from Europe to the affected countries and the other way around."
Travel firms appear to have already suffered amid the outbreak, with shares in airline group IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia, down 6.5%.
Carnival Cruises are down 5.6%, Easyjet have fallen by 4.7% and Tui Travel by 3.2%.
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