Pauline Cafferkey: I Beat Ebola With High-Tech Drugs And Irn-Bru!

Pauline Cafferkey has made a full recovery after battling Ebola for almost a month (Photo: PA)

A British nurse struck down by Ebola said last night she had come so close to death fighting the killer virus that she had told herself: ‘That’s it.’

Daily Mail reports Pauline Cafferkey, 39, was speaking after making a full recovery and being discharged from the Royal Free Hospital in London. 

She spent almost a month in an isolation tent, and for nine days during that time she was in a critical condition.

She caught Ebola in Sierra Leone, and as the virus took hold, Ms Cafferkey began to wonder if she would survive. She said: ‘There was a point when I remember saying “That’s it, I’ve had enough.” I was frightened but Ebola is so unpredictable. When I was told I had it I just said, “Well, I’ve got a battle on my hands”, which I did.’

Ms Cafferkey, from South Lanarkshire, was treated with experimental antiviral drug called ZMAb. She also received blood plasma from an Ebola survivor containing antibodies which are thought to have helped her battle the virus.

Dr Michael Jacobs, who led the medical team at the Royal Free, said they had ‘delved into the world of experimental treatments’ to save her. He said Mrs Cafferkey had now recovered completely and was ‘not infectious in any way’.

The nurse added to the antivirals and antibodies with her own regime, saying: ‘I had lots of Irn-Bru to help me!’

She said: ‘I am just happy to be alive. I feel weak, but I’m looking forward to going home.’

She caught Ebola in December while volunteering with Save The Children. She is the second Briton to have beaten the virus after catching it in Sierra Leone.

Nurse William Pooley, 29, had been flown back to the Royal Free for treatment in August.

Irn-Bru is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after Scotch whisky). It is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of Glasgow, since moving out of their Parkhead factory in the mid-1990s, and at a second manufacturing site in Mansfield. It is so hugely popular Scottish soda that may even outsell Coca-Cola in Scotland.