The 39-year-old British nurse Pauline Cafferkey was working for Save the Children in Sierra Leone, West Africa, when she first contracted the Ebola virus. She was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London on Dec. 30, 2014 and was discharged the following month.
However, Cafferkey had to return to the hospital early this October after suffering from complications. The nurse from South Lanarkshire in Scotland was admitted to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after falling ill. Cafferkey received treatments at the hospital's infectious diseases unit before being transferred to the Royal Free Hospital where the high-level isolation unit is located.
Cafferkey was transported back to the specialist unit at the Royal Free Hospital onboard a military aircraft heavily supervised by experts. An official from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) confirmed that the virus has once again been identified in Cafferkey. The spokesperson added that this is "not a new infection" since the nurse had battled the virus before.
"We can confirm that Pauline Cafferkey was transferred from the Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow to the Royal Free London hospital in the early hours of this morning due to an unusual late complication of her previous infection by the Ebola virus," said Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on Oct. 9, 2015. Cafferkey will be treated at the Royal Free Hospital using nationally agreed procedures.
According to NHSGGC's public health director Dr. Emilia Crighton, the public health risk is "very low." However, as a precaution, health officials are monitoring the individuals with whom Cafferkey came into close contact. Officials will be following up with these individuals as part of the precautionary measures.
Cafferkey's unfortunate Ebola virus relapse became known just a couple of days after a World Health Organization (WHO) announcement on Oct. 7, 2015. The WHO reported the first Ebola-free week in three countries in Western Africa - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia - since March 2014. The March 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in the three countries left over 11,000 dead and 28,000 infected.
Following her initial recovery, Cafferkey received a Pride of Britain award. On September 28, 2015, Cafferkey met the Prime Minister's wife Samantha Cameron for a breakfast reception at No. 10 Downing St. along with other winners. The Pride of Britain Awards was founded in 1999 to honor United Kingdom's silent heroes.
Photo: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases | Flickr
