Ebola virus disease in Spain had become unwell and on 6 October tested positive for Ebola at her local hospital in Alcorcón, the Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón. A second test confirmed the diagnosis, making this the first confirmed case of Ebola transmission outside Africa. Following testing, she was transferred to the Hospital Carlos III in Madrid for treatment. As of October 7, 50 contacts were being monitored, with 7 kept in isolation at the Hospital Carlos III, and an investigation was under way. On 7 October, Madrid's regional government got a court order to euthanize Romero's pet dog, Excalibur, concerned that it posed a risk
West African Ebola virus epidemic Ebola before the study was published in August 2014. In a report released in August 2014, researchers tracked the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone from the group first infected—13 women who had attended the funeral of the traditional healer, where they contracted the disease—giving them a unique opportunity to track how the virus had changed. This provided "the first time that the real evolution of the Ebola virus [could] be observed in humans." The research showed that the outbreak in Sierra Leone was sparked by at least two distinct viruses introduced from Guinea at about the same time. It