Scottish nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, is back in the hospital 10 months after recovering from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) because of an unusual late complication of her illness, Scotland health officials report.

Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under a very-high magnification, this digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a single filamentous Ebola virus particle that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line.
Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under a very-high magnification, this digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a single filamentous Ebola virus particle that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line.

The 39-year-old Cafferkey  was transferred from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in London Friday morning where she will be cared for by specialists with experience of treating patients who have previously contracted Ebola.

Pauline was admitted to the QEUH on Tuesday 6 October after feeling unwell. During this time she was treated in the infectious diseases unit.

Health officials note that this is not a new infection and the risk to the public is very low. Dr Emilia Crighton, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Director of Public Health, said: “Pauline’s condition is a complication of previous infection with the Ebola virus.”

Pauline Cafferkey was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital with Ebola in December 2014, treated, declared free of the virus and discharged on Jan. 24. She served in Sierra Leone when she contracted the virus.

Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63 

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