A top US health official urged swift action Thursday to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from becoming the next AIDS epidemic, while a Spanish nurse was at "serious risk" of dying

A top US health official urged swift action Thursday to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from becoming the next AIDS epidemic, while a Spanish nurse was at "serious risk" of dying.
  
Teresa Romero, 44, is "very ill and her life is at serious risk as a consequence of the virus," Madrid's regional president Ignacio Gonzalez told parliament. She is the first person known to have been infected with Ebola outside Africa.
  
The United Nations chief meanwhile called for a 20-fold increase in the world's response to the spread of Ebola, which has killed nearly 3,900 people in West Africa since the beginning of the year.
  
Ebola's spillover into the United States and Europe has raised fears of a wider outbreak, and led the United States, Canada and Britain to start tougher airport screening of passengers arriving from West Africa.
  
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted the number of cases could mount to 1.4 million by January unless strong measures are taken to contain the disease, which is spread though close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
  
"We have to work now so that it is not the world's next AIDS," CDC Director Tom Frieden told the heads of the United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund gathered in Washington. "I would say that in the 30 years I've been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS," he added, warning of a "long fight" ahead.