WHO says using untested Ebola treatments is 'ethical'

After a Spanish priest died Tuesday in a Madrid hospital while being treated for Ebola, the World Health Organization issued a statement on the ethics of using untested Ebola treatments.

In a statement Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it is "ethical" to treat the Ebola outbreak with untested medicines. The Associated Press reports that Liberia will use experimental treatments on two infected doctors. The deceased Spanish priest, Miguel Parajes, had been treated with an Ebola medicine not tested in humans.

"In the particular circumstances of this outbreak and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention," the WHO said in a statement.

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So far, the WHO reports that 1,013 people have died of Ebola in West Africa.