While nothing could replace her beloved 12-year-old dog Excalibur, Ebola survivor Teresa Romero Ramos has adopted a new four-legged family member.
When Ramos, a nursing aide in Madrid, was diagnosed with Ebola last October, people around the world were outraged when Spanish officials decided to euthanize Excalibur rather than quarantine him. Although there have been no documented cases of dogs with Ebola transmitting it to people, authorities from Madrid’s regional government stated at the time that “available scientific knowledge indicates there’s a risk the dog could transmit the deadly virus to humans.”
Ramos recovered from the disease, but was heartbroken over the loss of the dog she and her husband, Javier Limon, had raised since he was a puppy. Limon referred to Excalibur as the son they never had.
Yesterday the couple opened their hearts and home to Alma, a 6-month-old American Staffordshire Terrier puppy they adopted from the Centro Integral de Protección Animal (CIPA) de Alcorcón rescue center.
Limon told ABC.es they decided to adopt the pup from CIPA as a way to make society aware there are many abandoned animals that need homes.
“DIVA AHORA ALMA ADOPTADAAAAA,” CIPA wrote on its Facebook page Saturday (which loosely translates to “Soul diva now adoptadaaaaa,” LOL). It added, in Spanish, “This gorgeous dog has found a home. Thank you, Teresa and Javier, for adopting her.”
Shortly after Excalibur was euthanized, Dallas nurse Nina Pham was diagnosed with Ebola. Mayor Mike Rawlings quickly assured the public that Bentley, Pham’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, would not suffer the same fate as Excalibur. After being quarantined, Bentley was found to be free of the disease. Pham recovered and was happily reunited with her dog after she was released from a hospital.
In November, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) released new guidelines on treating the pets of people exposed to Ebola. The AVMA recommends that the pet be quarantined for 21 days or have someone else care for him during that period.
Anyone with known exposure to Ebola should have their pets quarantined for 21 days or have someone else care for them during that period, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) announced yesterday.
The AVMA began working on guidelines for treating the pets of Ebola patients last month, after Excalibur, the dog belonging to Madrid nurse Teresa Romero, who had tested positive for Ebola, was euthanized by health officials — despite a public outcry to quarantine the dog instead. (Romero has now filed a lawsuit for about $188,000.)
When Dallas nurse Nina Pham became infected with Ebola, her dog, Bentley, was quarantined for 21 days and found to be free of the virus. Pham, who is also now Ebola free, was reunited with Bentley on Nov. 1.
“The development of this guidance was a long process due to its novel and complex nature, as well as the lack of scientific data on Ebola and companion animals currently available,” according to an AVMA press release.
Developed in conjunction with health experts and agencies including the USDA and CDC, the AVMA’s new recommendations are intended to provide guidance for public health officials on how to assess, handle and monitor pets that may have been exposed to Ebola.
“There have been no reports of dogs or cats becoming sick with Ebola virus or of being able to spread Ebola to people or other animals,” notes one of the two new AVMA documents, Interim Guidance for Public Health Officials on Pets of Ebola Virus Disease Contacts. “However, it is important to keep people and animals away from blood or body fluids of a person with symptoms of Ebola infection.”
The other new document, Interim Guidance for Dog or Cat Quarantine After Exposure to a Human with Confirmed Ebola Virus Disease, recommends that pets who came into contact with a person with Ebola must be assessed for exposure and may be placed in mandatory quarantine for at least 21 days. “This situation can be avoided if the pet is moved out of the residence of the person being monitored for Ebola before any symptoms start in the person,” according to the AVMA.
Resources for pet parents, veterinarians and health officials are available on the AVMA website’s Ebola Virus page.
OCT. 13, 2014 UPDATE: The Ebola patient has been identified as Nina Pham of Dallas. Her dog appears to be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Unlike Excalibur, an Ebola patient’s dog who, despite hundreds of thousands of protests, was euthanized in Madrid last week, a Dallas dog in a similar situation will be allowed to live.
The health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital — who is the first person to become infected with the deadly virus in the United States — is a dog mom.
“This was a new twist,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told USA TODAY. “The dog’s very important to the patient and we want it to be safe.”
Before the patient’s apartment is decontaminated, Brad Smith, of the hazmat emergency response company CG Environmental, told USA TODAY he will work with the SPCA and Dallas animal control officials to remove (and likely quarantine) the dog.
“We’ll assist with that,” he said. “We have the (personal protection equipment) that needs to be worn.”
According to the Dallas Morning News, a hazmat team member entered the apartment early this evening, and gave the dog food and water. The dog has no signs of the virus.
While dogs in West Africa have tested positive for Ebola, there are no documented cases of dogs transmitting it to people.
Along with hundreds of thousands of protesters, Javier Limon Romero, the husband of the Ebola patient in Madrid, had urged officials not to kill their dog and to quarantine him instead. But Madrid health officials insisted that “available scientific knowledge indicates there’s a risk the dog could transmit the deadly virus to humans,” according to the Associated Press (AP).
“There’s prudence and then there’s, ‘Let’s kill it so we don’t have to think about it,'” wrote Dr. Scott Weese, of the Ontario Veterinary College’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, in the Worms & Germs Blog regarding the Excalibur’s euthanization. “The Spanish response to Ebola in a nursing assistant is a demonstration of the latter.”
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spokesman Thomas Skinner told the New York Times the center recommends that Ebola patients with dogs or cats should “’evaluate the animal’s risk of exposure” — seeing if the pet ingested bodily fluids from the patient, such as vomit, feces or blood. If so, the pet should be monitored for 21 days, which is the incubation period for Ebola.
JAN. 25, 2015 UPDATE: Although Excalibur can never be replaced, Teresa and her husband have adopted a new dog, a 6-month-old American Staffordshire Terrier named Alma, from a local rescue center.
Excalibur, the 12-year-old dog belonging to Ebola patient Teresa Romero Ramos of Madrid, was euthanized this morning, according to a New York Times report.
Along with hundreds of thousands of protesters, Ramos’ husband, Javier Limon Romero, had urged officials not to kill the dog, but rather to quarantine him instead.
Yesterday, authorities from Madrid’s regional government stated that “available scientific knowledge indicates there’s a risk the dog could transmit the deadly virus to humans,” according to the Associated Press (AP).
However, there have been no documented cases of dogs with Ebola transmitting it to people, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spokesman Thomas Skinner told the New York Times.
On the Facebook page for animal-welfare group Villa Pepa Protective Association, Romero had requested their help in saving his dog’s life.
“If they are so worried with this issue, I think we can find another type of alternative solutions, such as quarantining the dog and put him under observation like they did with me,” Romero wrote, as translated by Mashable.com. “Or should they sacrifice me as well just in case? But of course, with a dog it’s easier, it doesn’t matter as much.”
A Change.org petition urging the government not to euthanize Excalibur had more than 387,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
“If this woman were to die, the dog which has accompanied them for so many years would be an important emotional support for her husband,” wrote Carmen Sanchez Montañes of Sevilla, Spain, who created the petition. “This is not ‘just’ a dog; for this couple, he is one of the family.”
Protesters and animal-rights activists, many of whom brought their own pets, surrounded the home of Ramos and Romero today, unsuccessfully trying to block officials from entering and euthanizing Excalibur.
Ramos, a nursing assistant, was treating a patient in Madrid when she became the first person outside of West Africa to become infected with Ebola. The virus has claimed the lives of more than 370 health workers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
“There’s prudence and then there’s, ‘Let’s kill it so we don’t have to think about it,'” wrote Dr. Scott Weese, of the Ontario Veterinary College’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, in the Worms & Germs Blog. “The Spanish response to Ebola in a nursing assistant is a demonstration of the latter.”
Like so many others, Dr. Weese supported quarantining Excalibur.
“Why not take the opportunity to quarantine and test the dog to see if it was infected?” he wrote. “That would be better for the dog, for its owners and for the next time the situation occurs. You can’t answer all the questions with one dog, but you can start to gather information. Euthanasia is the easiest approach and the one that removes all risk, but there are ways to house and monitor a dog for a few weeks with no contact. Since Ebola virus is spread by direct contact with infectious body fluids, it’s containable with good facilities and precautions. To me, that would have been a better approach from many aspects.”
CDC spokesman Skinner told the New York Times the center recommends that Ebola patients with dogs or cats should “’evaluate the animal’s risk of exposure” — seeing if the pet ingested bodily fluids from the patient, such as vomit, feces or blood. If so, the pet should be monitored for 21 days, which is the incubation period for Ebola.
Madrid authorities stated yesterday that Excalibur would be “euthanized in a way to avoid suffering and using bio-security measures that it did not specify. Its body will later be incinerated.”
Teresa Romero Ramos, a nursing assistant in Madrid, became infected with Ebola after treating a patient there. As she fights for her life, she and her husband, Javier Limon Romero, who are both in quarantine, have also been fighting for the life of their dog, Excalibur.
Authorities from Madrid’s regional government stated today that “available scientific knowledge indicates there’s a risk the dog could transmit the deadly virus to humans,” according to the Associated Press (AP).
What scientific knowledge? Michael San Filippo of the American Veterinary Medical Association told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month that while dogs have tested positive for Ebola, they have shown no symptoms, and there are no documented cases of dogs infecting people with the virus.
On the Facebook page for animal-welfare group Villa Pepa Protective Association, Romero had requested their help in saving his dog’s life.
“I want to publicly denounce a man named Zarco, whom I believe is the chief health officer of the Community of Madrid, [who] told me that they have to sacrifice my dog just like that, with no explanation,” Romero wrote, as translated by Mashable.com. “He asked for my consent, which I denied strongly. He said that they will ask for a court order to enter in my house and sacrifice the dog.”
And that’s just what has happened today. The government “had to get a court order for the euthanization over the family’s objections,” the AP reports.
A lot of animal lovers want to know why Excalibur couldn’t be quarantined instead of killed.
“It would be much easier to isolate or quarantine the dog just as they have the victim’s husband,” wrote Carmen Sanchez Montañes of Sevilla, Spain, who created a Change.org petition that had more than 71,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
“If this woman were to die, the dog which has accompanied them for so many years would be an important emotional support for her husband. This is not ‘just’ a dog; for this couple, he is one of the family.”
Ramos was the first person outside of West Africa to become infected with Ebola, which has claimed the lives of more than 370 health workers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
“If they are so worried with this issue, I think we can find another type of alternative solutions, such as quarantining the dog and put him under observation like they did with me,” Romero wrote on Facebook.
“Or should they sacrifice me as well just in case? But of course, with a dog it’s easier, it doesn’t matter as much.”
According to the AP, authorities stated that Excalibur will be “euthanized in a way to avoid suffering and using bio-security measures that it did not specify. Its body will later be incinerated.”
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