Spanish nurse cleared of Ebola virus

A Spanish nurse who contracted Ebola has tested negative for the virus, multiple outlets reported on Sunday.

The test results mean that Teresa Romero — the first person to contract Ebola in Europe during the recent outbreak — is in the clear, even as concerns about the response to Ebola in the U.S. are rising.

{mosads}Romero, an assistant nurse, became infected with Ebola while treating Spanish missionaries who had picked up the virus doing work in Sierra Leone.

She had been making progress in recent weeks, getting out of bed and noticing an improvement in her appetite.

In the United States, two nurses were diagnosed with Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who contracted the virus and then traveled to Texas, where he died. Those two are under close watch at separate medical facilities in Atlanta and Bethesda, Md.

Critics have jumped on the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak, warning that health officials were poorly planned and ill-equipped to deal with the virus.

Obama on Friday appointed veteran political aide Ron Klain to be the new Ebola czar, effectively serving as a point man for medical and public health officials to coordinate their work. The pick has attracted criticism, however, from some lawmakers and pundits who see it as a nakedly political selection.