Tri-Service
RAF Transports Ebola Nurse To London After 'Complication'
A Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone last year has been re-admitted to an isolation unit.
Pauline Cafferkey was flown from Glasgow to London in a C-130 Hercules in the early hours of the morning, before being transported to the Royal Free Hospital in an RAF ambulance.
She became ill after suffering a 'complication' from the original infection. Her condition is currently described as "serious".
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Bodily tissues can harbour the Ebola infection months after the person appears to have fully recovered.
An earlier statement from the Royal Free said:
"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.
"The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic, so the risk to the general public remains low and the NHS has well-established and practised infection control procedures in place."
People who have been in close contact with her are being monitored by Scottish health authorities as a precaution.
Ms Cafferkey, 39, 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 Hospital before being discharged in late January.
Cover photo courtesy of Matt Brown via Wikimedia Commons.
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