A Spanish missionary priest who tested positive for the Ebola virus is in stable condition at a Madrid hospital after being evacuated from Liberia.

Miguel Pajares, 75, was helping to treat people infected with Ebola and was one of three who tested positive at the San Jose de Monrovia Hospital in Liberia earlier this week. He has now been flown to Spain.

Juliana Bohi, an Equatorial Guinean nun with Spanish nationality who worked with him, was also brought back but she is not infected. Both worked for the San Juan de Dios hospital order, a Catholic humanitarian group that runs hospitals around the world.

Fr Pajares and Sr Bohi are being kept in isolation at the Carlos III centre in Madrid, which is run by La Paz hospital.

They arrived at a military air base near Madrid and were strapped to stretchers enclosed by transparent capsule-like tents that were pushed by personnel in protective white suits wearing masks. A convoy of ambulances took them to the hospital with a police escort.

Rafael Perez-Santamarina, director of Madrid's La Paz hospital, said that initial medical checks showed Fr Pajares was in stable condition and Sr Bohi was in good condition.

He confirmed that neither was bleeding, which is a symptom of an advanced stage of the illness.

Sr Bohi and two other missionaries working at the Liberian hospital tested negative. Officials said she would be retested in Madrid and released if the result was again negative.

Senior Madrid regional health official Antonio Alemany said Fr Pajares did not have a fever and the prognosis was good.

Ebola, which causes some victims to bleed from the eyes, mouth and ears, can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is ill.

The disease has no known cure. The priest is being kept hydrated and if experimental treatment being tested in the United States on two Americans diagnosed with Ebola proves effective, Spain will seek to use it.

It is the first time that someone infected with Ebola has been treated in Spain. The Health Ministry said the case presented minimal risk to public health.

A medically equipped Airbus 310 flew to Liberia yesterday to bring Fr Pajares and Sr Bohi to Spain.