(task) Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey back in isolation - BBC News

GRS, USRS, All Africa RNs

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> http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34483584 <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34483584>
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> Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey back in isolation
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> PA
> Pauline Cafferkey previously spent a month in a specialist isolation unit
> A Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone has been readmitted to an isolation unit in London following an "unusual late complication".
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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.
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> It is not thought to be contagious.
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> The 39-year-old, from Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, has been flown back the isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
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> Ms Cafferkey spent almost a month in the unit at the beginning of the year after contracting the virus in December 2014.
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> Advertisement <http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/online/adverts_general>
> Jane Dreaper reports as Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey is readmitted to hospital
> NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said she had been admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday after feeling unwell and was treated in the infectious diseases unit.
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> She was then transferred to the Royal Free Hospital in the early hours of Friday morning due to an unusual late complication in her illness.
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> Dr Emilia Crighton, NHSGGC director of public health, said: "Pauline's condition is a complication of a previous infection with the Ebola virus.
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> "The risk to the public is very low. In line with normal procedures in cases such as this, we have identified a small number of close contacts of Pauline's that we will be following up as a precaution."
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> We will be taking your questions on Ebola on the BBC News Channel today at 11:15 BST. Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk <mailto:haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk?subject=Ebola%2034483584> with your questions.
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> Government sources have described her transfer to the specialist unit as a "highly precautionary process".
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> Dr Ben Neuman, a virologist from the University of Reading, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that the outlook for Ms Cafferkey was good and it was unlikely the virus remained infectious.
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> He said: "Once the virus is removed from the blood once, it tends to retreat into the hard-to-access components of the body. It'll hide in places like the back of your eye or breast milk."
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> He said the effects of the virus on the body could last for up to two years, although it was difficult to know how long it could actually persist.
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> Getty Images
> Ms Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working as a volunteer in Sierra Leone last year
> He added: "The nice news here is that she's beaten the virus once so she can probably beat it again.
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> "The odds are that she has actually inherited a lucky set of genes and these are probably what protected her the first time and probably what will keep her safe the second time regardless of any treatment. The outlook's good."
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> Ebola is passed on through bodily fluids. It is not transmitted through casual contact.
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> Analysis
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> James Gallagher, health editor, BBC News website
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> Finding the virus in Ebola survivors months after recovering is not unheard of.
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> Previous outbreaks have shown the virus can survive in semen and it was found in the eye of a US doctor <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32657358> two months after recovering.
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> This can pose health problems for the patient, but is there a risk of spreading the virus?
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> Men are advised to use condoms indefinitely until more is known.
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> But there are now so many survivors in West Africa - around 13,000 - that if there was a major risk then we would know about it.
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> Liberia did have a mini Ebola flare-up after going more than 40 days without a case.
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> Ebola virus persisting in survivors is one possible explanation.
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> Experts say there will have to be monitoring for Ebola flare-ups for years after the epidemic is over.
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> What are the risks of Ebola recurring? <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34485116>
> Last week Ms Cafferkey, who works at the Blantyre Health Center, was in London receiving an award at the Pride of Britain ceremony which recognised the risks aid workers took with their own health.
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> There are not thought to be any concerns about contact she had with people at the event but health officials in Scotland are focusing on who she saw since her return home.
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> Ms Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working as a volunteer with Save the Children at a treatment centre in Kerry Town, in Sierra Leone.
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> She was diagnosed on 29 December last year, after returning to Glasgow via London.
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> PA
> Her temperature had been tested seven times before she flew from Heathrow to Glasgow and she was cleared to travel, before later falling ill.
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> 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 30 December.
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> She was then transferred to the specialist isolation unit at the Royal Free.
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> After a few days Ms Cafferkey's condition began to deteriorate, with the hospital announcing she had become critically ill on 4 January.
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> After leaving hospital in January, Ms Cafferkey said she was "very happy to be alive" and was looking forward to returning to "normal life". She also said she had no plans to return to West Africa.
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> Ebola virus disease (EVD)
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> SPL
> Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
> Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
> Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%
> Incubation period is two to 21 days
> There is no proven vaccine or cure
> Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
> Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host
> At the time, Dr Michael Jacobs, from the Royal Free's infectious diseases team, said Ms Cafferkey had completely recovered and was "not infectious in any way".
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> He said Ms Cafferkey was treated with blood plasma from an Ebola survivor and an experimental treatment drug closely related drug to ZMapp, which UK nurse Will Pooley was treated with after he contracted Ebola.
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> Some survivors of the virus have had eye and joint problems, as well as ongoing fatigue.
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> The World Health Organisation admits not much is known about the long-term implications after having Ebola.
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> More than 11,000 people in West Africa died during the latest outbreak.
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> Last week there were no new cases for the first time since March 2014.
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> Tulip Mazumdar, BBC Global Health Correspondent and Dr Derek Gatherer, Virologist at Lancaster University will be taking your questions on Ebola on BBC News Channel today at 11:15 BST.
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