More than 20,000 people have been infected by the Ebola virus, with the outbreak claiming over 7,800 lives in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Now, the United Kingdom has its first confirmed case of Ebola: a volunteer nurse who worked with Save the Children in Sierra Leone.
Pauline Cafferkey traveled through Casablanca in Morocco and the London Heathrow Airport before landing late Sunday, Dec. 28, in Glasgow via British Airways. She underwent routine checks, telling Heathrow Airport officials that she believed she was developing a fever. Her temperature was taken seven times over the course of 30 minutes but each time her temperature was normal. Cafferkey was thus allowed to leave. She had no other symptoms at the time either.
After arriving in Glasgow the following day, Cafferkey reported symptoms and sought medical attention. She was promptly transferred to London in an isolation pod in a military aircraft, heading to the Royal Free Hospital.
The Royal Free Hospital has a high-level isolation unit, with access limited to specially trained staff. A special tent with controlled ventilation is also fitted over a patient's bed. This setup will complement treatment for Cafferkey, which could include a plasma transplant using blood from William Pooley, a British nurse who recovered from an Ebola infection in September. Pooley also received treatment at the Royal Free Hospital.
Other treatment options available to Cafferkey include antiviral drugs, although stocks of ZMapp, the drug Pooley used, are depleted at the moment.
As Cafferkey was in the early stages of the disease while she was traveling, there was a very low risk of infecting other passengers. However, Public Health England has already gotten in touch with a third of the 132 passengers with her on the Casablanca-Heathrow flight and has given advice to over 50 percent of the 72 passengers onboard with her from Heathrow to Glasgow.
Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister for Scotland, said the volunteer nurse is doing as well as can be hoped given the circumstances.
Another healthcare worker who recently arrived from West Africa also got sick in the Scottish Highlands and was transferred by the Scottish Ambulance Service to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, but tested negative for Ebola. A third patient in Cornwall is under observation.
Early Ebola symptoms include a sudden fever, fatigue, headache, sore throat and muscle pain. Once the infection progresses, rashes, internal and external bleeding, diarrhea and vomiting will progress. Typically, patients succumb to the disease due to multiple organ failure and dehydration.
