Spanish Ebola victim dies in Madrid

Father Miguel Pajares, the Spanish priest who was flown back to Spain suffering from the Ebola virus, died on Tuesday morning, the Spanish Health Authorities confirmed.

Father Pajares is the first Spaniard and also the first European known to have been infected by the Ebola virus, which has currently killed over 1,000 people in Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Republic of Guinea.

The 75-year-old was flown back from the Liberian capital of Monrovia, where he had spent decades working in hospital, in a specially adapted Air Force plane on Wednesday, arriving in Spain on Thursday morning where he was taken to the Carlos III hospital in the north of Madrid, where a special isolation unit had quickly been set up.

Although weak, he had been reported as being in a stable condition and on Sunday it was confirmed that he had begun receiving the experimental ZMAPP anti-Ebola treatment.

It had been hoped the experimental serum which has been used with positive results on two American Ebola victims, would help Father Pajares’ body develop the immune systems to combat the disease, unfortunately he died slightly over 24 hours after receiving his first treatment.

Tuesday will see further tests carried out on Sister Juliana, a Spanish nun, who was evacuated on the same flight as Father Pajares, in order to finally determine whether or not she too is infected with Ebola.