Ebola: Spanish priest infected in Liberia dies Published duration 12 August 2014

image copyright EPA image caption Miguel Pajares worked at a hospital in the Liberian capital

A Spanish missionary who contracted the Ebola virus while working in West Africa has died in hospital in Madrid.

More than 1,000 people have died in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria since the outbreak was first reported in February.

Miguel Pajares, 75, was airlifted back to Spain from Liberia last week with a nun who tested negative for the virus.

For the past few days he had been treated with an untested, experimental drug, Zmapp.

A World Health Organization (WHO) panel in Geneva has meanwhile approved the ethics of using ZMapp.

According to the Reuters news agency, the panel said it was ethical to combat the Ebola outbreak by offering drugs or vaccines whose side-effects and efficacy had yet to be proven.

The priest was part of a Catholic order at St Joseph's hospital in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

The hospital has now been closed because of the outbreak.