Pauline Cafferkey, a British nurse who doctors say had fully recovered from a case of Ebola, is back in the hospital after the disease was found in her system again.
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NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that the virus is present in Pauline Cafferkey but said it was left over from the original infection.
Ebola can easily be transmitted through close contact or direct contact with blood and exchange of bodily fluids.
In Cafferkey’s case, he said, “if her body was able to control the virus once, the chances are she can do it twice”.
Toni Cafferkey said it was “absolutely diabolical” the way her sister, who originally contracted Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone past year, had been treated. She has “an unusual late complication” of Ebola and is in serious condition, according to a statement from the hospital. “She will now be treated in isolation in line with nationally agreed guidelines”, Cosford added.
The dramatic scenes are reminiscent of those last December, when she was flown to the United Kingdom after becoming the first Briton to contract Ebola. She was at first described as suffering a “complication” – but a statement now warns she is in a “serious condition”. He explained further: “The newly-discovered twist on this post-Ebola syndrome is that, in a few cases, the health problems – often including damage to the eyes and joints – is actually caused by live Ebola virus growing in bodily fluids in a few of the less accessible compartments of the body”. The nurse from South Lanarkshire in Scotland was admitted to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after falling ill.
Heath Secretary Jeremy Hunt also tweeted his best wishes, saying: “Thoughts with Pauline Cafferkey today as she battles Ebola for the second time”.
Her family told the Sunday Mail newspaper she went to a Glasgow hospital Monday night but was sent home even though the doctor assessing her knew of her earlier Ebola treatment.
Over 11,000 people in West Africa died in the latest outbreak.
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Ms Cafferkey was in a critical condition while in isolation at the hospital before making a full recovery. The officials say the chances of Cafferkey unwittingly transmitting the virus is quite low, however public health officials in Scotland have been alerted and they have begun to monitor the people with whom Cafferkey had close contact.
