Ebola

British Ebola nurse returns to hospital

A Scottish nurse who contracted the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone last year is back in hospital for more treatment.

Pauline Cafferkey, 39, was transferred from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in London early on Friday morning due to "an unusual late complication" of her previous infection by the Ebola virus, the Royal Free said in a statement.

A file photo of an Ebola vaccine trial in Liberia last February.
Getty Images

"She will now be treated in isolation in the hospital's high level isolationunit under nationally agreed guidelines," it said.

Cafferkey, from South Lanarkshire, Scotland, spent several weeks in an isolation unit at the Royal Free at the beginning of the year after contracting the virus in December 2014.

A file photo of an Ebola vaccine trial in Liberia last February.
Will Merck's 100% effective Ebola vaccine make money?


She was the first person to have been diagnosed with Ebola on British soil. She was discharged in January after seemingly making a full recovery.

The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic. The Royal Free said the risk to the general public remains low.