Teresa Romero cured of Ebola and her blood will be used to treat others

Spain will be declared Ebola-free in five days' time if none of her contacts in isolation show symptoms

This said, it is unlikely to be needed in Spain – all the 'high-risk contacts', or people who have been near her and the missionary doctor she treated, remain symptom-free and, if they test negative by the end of the incubation period of 21 days, they will be released from hospital.

The key date is October 27 – and if none of them has the disease, Spain will be officially Ebola-free.

Although her condition was touch and go 10 days ago and Teresa admits she 'really thought she was going to die' – as did the doctors – she became progressively better and is now confirmed as virus-free.

Her own work colleagues have been treating her, at the Carlos III hospital, and once conscious Teresa was advising them constantly on what to do, telling them to 'stay calm and cautious'.

They will not stop using their biohazard suits until they are absolutely certain that none of her bodily fluids contain the Ebola virus, but Teresa herself is free from it.

She has to remain in hospital another week, since her lungs, liver and kidneys were damaged by the disease and require further treatment, but medics say she is unlikely to have any long-term problems.

Now Teresa is fully compos mentis, she says she does not remember touching her face with her gloves whilst taking off her biohazard suit after treating missionary doctor Manuel García Viejo, who died from Ebola after being repatriated in a critical condition.

In her confused and delirious state in the early stages of her illness, she said she 'probably said yes to whatever they asked' her.

Teresa and her husband Javier Limón are planning legal action against the regional health authorities, and Javier, who remains in observation, has been breaking his wife in gently to the media furore her condition has caused and the fact that she is known by practically every single inhabitant in Spain and many abroad.

When he told her on the phone recently that she had caused quite a sensation, she asked, “why?”

Javier is concerned that their friends, neighbours, acquaintances and the community in general in their home town of Alcorcón, just outside Madrid, will give Teresa a wide berth when she gets out of hospital in case they catch the disease.

“We need to stress that they will not only never catch Ebola from Teresa, but that Teresa's own blood can now actually be used to cure others who have it,” Javier insisted.

She is now considered immune to the disease.

Teresa caught the virus from García Viejo, but says she would 'do it all again' and would never refuse to treat an Ebola patient – even if she was not now immune.

Saved by 'Patience'

Teresa was treated using an 'older' version of the experimental serum ZMapp, which cured the US doctor Kent Brantly who returned from Africa with the disease – but also with plasma from the blood of Sister Paciencia, a missionary doctor who survived Ebola.

Paciencia Melgar, originally from the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea but who is a citizen of Spain, was not repatriated, and was left in a 'pre-morgue' ward in a Liberia hospital in the final stages of the disease with only 'paracetamol and prayers' to help her.

The nun's miraculous recovery meant her blood was due to be used to save García Viejo, but flying her to Madrid from Monrovia, the Liberian capital, took two days, which was just hours too long.

Her blood was instead used to treat Teresa, and Sister Paciencia is said to be 'delighted' that she has been able to save the nurse's life.