Priest with Ebola returns to Spain

A Spanish missionary priest who tested positive for the Ebola virus has landed in Spain on a flight from Liberia.

Miguel Pajares was helping to treat people infected with Ebola and was one of three who tested positive at the San Jose de Monrovia Hospital in Liberia earlier this week.

Juliana Bohi, an Equatorial Guinean nun with Spanish nationality who worked with him in Liberia, was also brought back but she is not infected.

Both worked for the San Juan de Dios hospital order, a Catholic humanitarian group that runs hospitals around the world.

It is the first time that someone infected with Ebola will be treated in Spain. The Health Ministry says the case presents minimal risk to public health.

The Defence Ministry said the medically equipped Airbus 310 carrying Mr Pajares has landed at Torrejon air base, close to Madrid.

The other two infected aid workers were identified as Chantal Pascaline Mutwamene of Congo and Paciencia Melgar from Equatorial Guinea.

Ms Bohi and two other missionaries working at the hospital tested negative.

Rafael Perez-Santamarina, director of Madrid's La Paz hospital, said initial medical checks on their arrival at the centre showed Mr Pajares was in stable condition and Ms Bohi was in a good condition.

Madrid regional government health chief Francisco Javier Rodriguez said neither was bleeding, which is a symptom of an advanced stage of the illness.

Ebola, which causes some victims to bleed from the eyes, mouth and ears, can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is ill.