Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey makes full recovery

THE Scottish nurse who was left fighting for her life after catching the deadly Ebola virus was discharged from hospital today after making a full recovery.
Pauline Cafferkey, who was diagnosed last month with Ebola but is now free of the virus. Picture: Lisa FergusonPauline Cafferkey, who was diagnosed last month with Ebola but is now free of the virus. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
Pauline Cafferkey, who was diagnosed last month with Ebola but is now free of the virus. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Pauline Cafferkey said an emotional farewell to medical staff at the Royal Free Hospital in London who have treated her since she was diagnosed with the disease last month after returning from Sierra Leone with her fellow NHS volunteers.

A hospital spokesperson said she was now free of the virus after being treated in the high level isolation unit since December 30.

Pauline Cafferkey talks to reporter Kevan Christie. Picture: Lisa FergusonPauline Cafferkey talks to reporter Kevan Christie. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
Pauline Cafferkey talks to reporter Kevan Christie. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
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In an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, the 39-year-old community health visitor nurse from Glasgow said she was “happy to be alive”.

She said she “lost of a week of her life” as she drifted in and out of consciousness after her condition rapidly deteriorated.

Ms Cafferkey, who has been left weak from the illness, is working to regain her strength. She can now walk for short periods of time.

“I am just happy to be alive,” she said.“Thanks to Dr Mike and his amazing team of doctors, the matron, the nurses and all the other people that I didn’t meet working behind the scenes to keep things going.

“They were always very reassuring and I knew I was in the best hands – they saved my life.

“I’m definitely going to keep in touch, I’ve got a strong bond with the place and I’ll be sad to leave but I want to go home.”

Ms Cafferkey added: “I’m looking forward to going home, I just want to see my friends and family – I’m looking forward to having a bath, I haven’t had one for some time now.

“I just want to get back to normal, get my strength back as I’ve lost a lot of weight and eventually returning to work, obviously that’s going to take some time. I’ve got a great job I’m working with babies under the age of five.

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“I’ll be having a break from aid work and I’ve no plans to return to it at the moment but who knows in the future.”

Ms Cafferkey initially thought she might have been suffering from a urine infection after arriving back home in Glasgow. She flew to Glasgow from Heathrow Airport after travelling from Sierra Leone via Casablanca in Morocco.

She did not feel unwell until she went to bed at home. She realised she had a raised temperature but at no point did she suspect she had caught Ebola.

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The disease, which has killed more than 8,000 people in west Africa since the first cases were reported last March, was diagnosed at the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases on the Gartnavel hospital campus, Glasgow.

The nurse, who has “no idea” how she caught the disease was flown to specialist facilities at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, where she was treated with the experimental drug ZMabb.

However her condition deteriorated rapidly three weeks ago, leaving her in a critical condition and drifting in and out of consciousness.

She added: “As I was beginning to recover I listened to lots of music and the Royal Free Charity gave me an iPod which was a great help.

“I also had lots of Irn-Bru to help me through.”

Ms Cafferkey wrote a diary for Scotland on Sunday about her first four weeks in Sierra Leone in which she revealed she fell ill in the first week but not from Ebola. She wrote: “I was ill the other day, either from over-hydration as not enough salts in my body or heat exhaustion. It’s very difficult to judge the amount of fluid needed as the quantities we lose are immense. The ORS [oral rehydration salts] which get added to water to help balance out the body’s salt and sugars that are being lost are not the most palatable. I vomited out of the minibus window on the way home – luckily I managed to avoid any splash back and being decapitated.”

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Dr Michael Jacobs has treated Ms Cafferkey since she was admitted to hospital on December 30.

He told Scotland on Sunday that she was treated with convalescent plasma taken from the blood of recovered European patients and an experimental anti-viral drug which he confirmed was ZMabb not to be confused with ZMapp which was used to treat the British nurse William Pooley.

He said: “We’re thrilled with the outcome, I’m so proud of the team who are all pretty exhausted.

“It is because of the skill and hard work of the entire team that she is now able to go home.

“We were clearly focused on giving Pauline the best possible care we could.

“But in the end it probably comes down to the fact that she had to cure herself.

“She used her own immune system which has cleared the virus but we’re very fortunate here to have specialist facilities.”

The unit at the Royal Free is designed to ensure staff can safely treat a patient with a dangerous infectious disease. Access to the unit is restricted and there are a number of measures in place to ensure the virus is contained.

Dr Jacobs added: “I’ve got to know Pauline since she’s got better and she’s a wonderful person who is very committed to helping other people.”

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