SKOPJE (REUTERS) - A British man suspected of contracting the Ebola virus has died in Macedonia, a senior Macedonian government official said on Thursday, a further sign that the disease is spreading in Europe.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters a second Briton had also shown symptoms of the virus.

He said the two had been staying at a hotel in the capital Skopje and that hotel staff and the ambulance crew that took them in for treatment had been put into isolation.

The virus, which is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person, has killed nearly 4,000 people in West Africa since March, in the largest outbreak on record.

The health of a Spanish nurse, the first person believed to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa, worsened on Thursday in Madrid, where a total of seven people are in isolation.