09/10/2015

Scottish 'Ebola' Nurse Back In Isolation

A nurse from Scotland who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone last year has been readmitted to a hospital in London following an "unusual late complication" of her illness.

Pauline Cafferkey, 39, who is from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday 6 October after feeling unwell. She was treated in the hospital's infectious diseases unit.

However, in the early hours of this morning, 9 October, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that she had been transferred to the Royal Free Hospital in London due to an "unusual late complication of her illness."

NHSGGC added that the Ebola virus is still present in Ms Cafferkey, but that it was left over from the original infection. It is not thought to be contagious.

Dr Emilia Crighton, NHSGGC Director of Public Health, said: "Pauline's condition is a complication of previous infection with the Ebola virus. The risk to the public is very low. In line with normal procedures in cases such as this, we have identified a small number of close contacts of Pauline's that we will be following up as a precaution."

Ms Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working as a volunteer with Save the Children at a treatment centre in Kerry Town, in Sierra Leone in 2014. She was diagnosed with the disease on 29 December, after returning to Glasgow via London. She then spent a month in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital.

Ebola is passed on through bodily fluids. Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and damage to the central nervous system. Currently, there is no proven vaccine or cure for the disease.

Following her initial diagnoses, Ms Cafferkey was treated with blood plasma from an Ebola survivor, and an experimental treatment drug.

(JP/LM)

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