london britain has released an official advice that dogs in uk will not be put down if their owners get ebola the advisory comes after widespread outrage over the killing of excalibur the dog of a spanish nurse who was contracted the virus excalibur was put down after spanish authorities claimed it could have spread the disease the advisory reads myth if anybody in the uk gets ebola any animals they own are also at risk there is thought to be a low risk that companion animals particularly dogs in developed countries can become infected with ebola and then transmit it to other people however there are plans in the uk to quarantine dogs that may have been exposed to ebola should that be necessary the department of health issued the guidance that clearly states that pets of people with ebola will not be immediately put down but will instead be quarantined to ensure they have not themselves contracted the disease teresa romero ramos in spain and her husband were quarantined after she contracted ebola from africa but her dog was not offered the same treatment what followed was a public outrage in spain that saw 100000 people sign a petition calling for spains health minister to quit over the order to kill excalibur meanwhile ambassador lyall grant of the uk mission to the un told un general assembly meeting on ebola we need more healthcare workers to staff the six ebola treatment centres that are being built secondly we need laboratory technicians and biomedical scientists to help uk staff run the laboratories rapid and accurate diagnosis of ebola is critical to treatment and containment he said that uk will continue to play its part in this battle so far britain has committed 350 million to tackle ebola uk has 820 uk military personnel on the ground in sierra leone to support country efforts in addition to uk civilian staff ambassador grant said but we still have a mountain to climb critically a gaping hole in the overall response is the lack of nonebola healthcare for international healthcare workers we cannot expect these brave men and women to deploy without this so we must fix it fast the united kingdom supports use of the multi donor trust fund for this purpose the global battle against ebola has only just begun complacency is now our worst enemy