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Nurse
Pauline Cafferkey is "critically ill"
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A nurse who is being
treated for a late complication of an Ebola infection is now "critically
ill" after her condition "deteriorated", the hospital treating
her has said. Pauline
Cafferkey, 39, was admitted to the isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in
North West London on Friday after becoming unwell in Glasgow.
A
statement from the Royal Free said: "We are sad to announce that Pauline
Cafferkey's condition has deteriorated and she is now critically ill.
"She
is being treated for Ebola in the high level isolation unit at the Royal Free
Hospital."
Press
Association report continues:
Ms
Cafferkey was flown from Glasgow to an isolation unit at the Royal Free
Hospital in Hampstead in a military aircraft in the early hours of Friday
morning.
She
had become unwell earlier in the week and was treated at the Queen Elizabeth
University Hospital in Glasgow before being transferred.
A
total of 58 close contacts of the nurse have been identified, with 40 of those
offered vaccinations as a precaution.
Officials
confirmed 25 of them accepted the vaccine while 15 have either declined or were
unable to receive it due to existing medical conditions.
The
58 people are a mixture of healthcare workers and friends, family and community
contacts.
Ms
Cafferkey, who is from South Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with Ebola in December
after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone via London.
She
spent almost a month in an isolation unit at the Royal Free before being
discharged in late January.
Scientists
agree that b odily tissues can harbour the Ebola infection months after the
person appears to have fully recovered.
Ms
Cafferkey's family have claimed doctors "missed a big opportunity" to
spot she had fallen ill with Ebola again.
Her
sister Toni Cafferkey said the way she had been treated was "absolutely
diabolical". She said Ms Cafferkey had gone to a GP out-of-hours clinic at
the Victoria Hospital in Glasgow on Monday night but the doctor who assessed
her diagnosed a virus and sent her home.
Ms
Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working as a nurse at the Save the Children
treatment centre in Kerry Town.
A
report from the charity in February said she was probably infected as a result
of using a visor to protect her face rather than goggles.
It
said she was unable to use the standard protective goggles because she could
not get them to fit properly.
Ms
Cafferkey's temperature was tested seven times before she flew from Heathrow to
Glasgow in December, and she had been cleared for travel.
She
was placed in an isolation unit at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital after becoming
feverish, before being transferred by an RAF Hercules plane to London on
December 30.
She
was then transferred to the specialist isolation unit at the Royal Free.
Ms
Cafferkey won an award at the Pride of Britain Awards in central London on
September 28.
She met the Prime
Minister's wife Samantha Cameron the following day at Downing Street, alongside
other winners.
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