Scottish nurse diagnosed with Ebola listed in critical condition, according to officials
Pauline Cafferkey was working at an Ebola clinic for Save the Children in Sierra Leone this past fall, and was diagnosed with ebola last week. She is in isolation and receiving treatment at London's Royal Free Hospital.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, January 3, 2015, 11:37 AM
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HO/EPAScottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey has been listed as in critical condition at Royal Free Hospital in London after being diagnosed with ebola last week.
A Scottish nurse being treated for Ebola in England was listed in critical condition Saturday, according to officials at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
Pauline Cafferkey’s health “has gradually deteriorated over the past two days,” according to a statement on the hospital’s website.
The 39-year-old has been receiving treatment, including an experimental antiviral drug and plasma from a recovered Ebola patient, in an isolation unit at the British hospital.
Earlier in the week, doctors had been cautiously optimistic about Cafferkey’s recovery.
“We are giving her the very best care possible," said Dr. Michael Jacobs, the infectious diseases consultant at Royal Free London. "However, the next few days will be crucial. The disease has a variable course and we will know much more in a week’s time.”
HO/EPACafferkey was working at a Save the Children specialist ebola hospital in Sierra Leone in November 2014.
Cafferkey, who volunteered in Sierra Leone with the aid group Save the Children, returned to England via Heathrow Airport on Dec. 28 and was allowed to fly on to her native Scotland despite having a fever.
Scottish authorities said the disease had been in the early stages when Cafferkey was diagnosed at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital a day later. She was then transferred to London.
There have been 20,206 reported cases of Ebola since the outbreak began in West Africa in March 2014, according to the World Health Organization.
More than 7,800 people have died from the disease during the past 10 months.
