Fears over the spread of Ebola in Europe hang on the deteriorating health of a Spanish nurse. The first person to have contracted the virus outside of Africa after becoming infected when treating two Spanish priests repatriated with the disease, Teresa Romero has called for privacy.

“The patient has expressly forbidden us to give information about her health and clinical condition. I’ve only come here to confirm that her clinical condition has worsened but I can’t give you more information, that is the patient’s will,” announced Yolanda Fuentes, Vice-Director of Carlos III Hospital in Madrid.

The EU asked the Spanish government for an explanation of the infection in a high-security ward, making Romero the centre of a blame game according to one of her friends who says “they are trying to shirk responsibility,” adding that, “for now the most important thing is that my colleague gets better. Secondly, they need to stop criminalising her because she is the only victim here. We are very angry because , the people who risk our lives every day by entering there, are the ones responsible for this situation. It is so unfair.”

The Spanish government has said a “chain of human errors” was behind the outbreak. Romero had apparently told another health worker that she had touched her face with her protective gloves.

More than 80 people who came in contact with Romero are under observation, seven of which are deemed at a high risk of contraction remain in isolation including two doctors, an ambulance worker and her husband.