Scottish Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'critically ill'

                              

Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who is being treated for complications from Ebola, is now "critically ill", doctors have said.

Ms Cafferkey, 39, was readmitted to a specialist isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London last week. The hospital said in a statement that her condition had deteriorated.

Ms Cafferkey contracted Ebola while working at a treatment centre in Sierra Leone last year.

She spent almost a month in isolation at the Royal Free at the beginning of the year after the virus was detected when she arrived back in the UK.

She was later discharged after apparently making a full recovery, but it was discovered last week that Ebola was still present in her body.

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

The Ebola outbreak in west Africa has killed 11,312 of the 28,457 people infected since December 2013, according to the latest WHO figures.

Analysis by Fergus Walsh, BBC medical correspondent

"What has happened to her is that although she fought off successfully being critically ill once before, somehow the virus stayed lodged in parts of her body.

"It could well be the spinal cord and if she does have meningitis, that would be inflammation of the spinal cord - and extremely difficult to treat.

"She has fought this off once before. The same team will be hoping she can fight it off again."

Source: BBC