Experts have learned more about Ebola from Pauline Cafferkey than any other person on the planet, according to a leading academic.
John Oxford, emeritus professor of virology at the University of London, said that the Scots nurse’s case is ‘probably the most investigated on the planet’ and is viewed by experts as a pioneer case.
Ms Cafferkey, who contracted Ebola in 2014, was flown by RAF Hercules from Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in London yesterday to receive treatment for a ‘late complication’ from the virus. It is the third time she has been hospitalised since contracting Ebola.
Mr Oxford told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “I view Pauline as a pioneer case. Probably more has been learned about Ebola from Pauline than any other person on this planet. She’s probably the most investigated case of Ebola on planet Earth.”
The academic said that the investigation of Ms Cafferkey’s case will help medics gain a better understand of Ebola and how to treat it.
He added: “That investigation will help her, it will help the medical and nursing team look after her and it will help the rest of us gather knowledge about this infection, how the body fights it and what the body goes through. With that knowledge will come new discoveries to help not only Pauline but other people.”
Ms Cafferkey was first diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone in December 2014. She was returned to hospital following a relapse in October 2015.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said that Ms Cafferkey was hospitalised for the third time after ‘something was picked up during routine monitoring’.
A spokesperson said: "Under routine monitoring by the Infectious Diseases Unit, Pauline Cafferkey has been admitted to hospital for further investigations."
In November, the Royal Free said Ms Cafferkey, from South Lanarkshire, had made a full recovery from Ebola and was no longer infectious.
She contracted the deadly virus while working as a nurse at the Save the Children treatment centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone.
She was diagnosed after returning to Glasgow from the west African country via London.
The WHO declared the Ebola outbreak over last year after the deaths of thousands of people but two new cases emerged in Sierra Leone in January.
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