Ebola Nurse Pauline's Condition Improves

19 October 2015, 15:22 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A nurse who is being treated for a late complication of an Ebola infection has improved and her condition is now "serious but stable''.

Pauline Cafferkey, 39, was admitted to the isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north west London more than a week ago after becoming unwell in Glasgow.

A statement from the Royal Free said: "We are able to announce that Pauline Cafferkey's condition has improved to serious but stable.''

Last Wednesday the hospital said Ms Cafferkey was "critically ill'' after her condition deteriorated and she was left fighting for her life.

She is being treated for Ebola in the Hampstead hospital's high level isolation unit.

Ms Cafferkey was flown from Glasgow in a military aircraft in the early hours of October 9.

She had become unwell earlier in the week and was treated at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow before being transferred.

A total of 58 close contacts of the nurse have been identified, with 40 of those offered vaccinations as a precaution.

Ms Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working as a nurse at the Save the Children treatment centre in Kerry Town.

A report from the charity in February said she was probably infected as a result of using a visor to protect her face rather than goggles.

It said she was unable to use the standard protective goggles because she could not get them to fit properly.

Ms Cafferkey, who is from South Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with Ebola in December after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone via London.

She spent almost a month in an isolation unit at the Royal Free before being discharged in late January.

Scientists agree that bodily tissues can harbour the Ebola infection months after the person appears to have fully recovered.

Ms Cafferkey's family have claimed doctors ``missed a big opportunity'' to spot she had fallen ill with Ebola again.