The blood of Scots nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, will be used to help other victims of the disease if she makes a full recovery, experts claim.

The public health nurse remains in isolation at London's Royal Free Hospital where she is receiving specialist care and which said she is showing signs of improvement.

Although no longer critically ill, medics say it is still impossible to say how long a full recovery will take.

Following claims by Professor Hugh Pennington, the Aberdeen-based leading microbiologist, that Ms Cafferkey is now likely to recover, one Ebola expert has said he expects the nurse to help others struck down by the virus.

As part of her treatment she has been given plasma from survivors and an un-named experimental drug in the hope that her immune system would fight off the virus by producing antibodies.

Dr Ben Neuman, of Reading University, said: "If she becomes a survivor then I'm sure she'll donate her blood to the plasma pool. That's the kind of generous thing she does already as a nurse.

"She's clearly very selfless."

"It's wonderful news that she's no longer critical. I was really happy when I heard.

"It was really nice to hear that it seems like she's going to be all right, really good news. Good things happen to people who deserve it."

He added: "The longer it goes on, the better the outcome and in this case it looks good.

"The fever should have come down or should be coming down very soon and the other symptoms should have gone away.

"That means that her immune system has kicked in.

"Her body is trying to get rid of the last bits of the virus. That can actually take months. In certain bodily fluids the virus can actually stick around for ages.

"She'll be immune to this form of Ebola for a while, we just don't know how long it will last."

Ms Cafferkey was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone to Glasgow and was initially admitted to the city's Gartnavel Hospital on December 29, then transferred to London the following day.

The nurse, from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, had volunteered with Save the Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, before returning to the UK.

Save the Children has launched an investigation into how she was infected but admits it may never establish the exact circumstances.

She flew back to the UK via Casablanca in Morocco. Her temperature was tested seven times before she flew from Heathrow to Glasgow and she was cleared to travel.

She later became feverish and followed advice given to her at Heathrow to contact local services and was admitted to an isolation facility at the Brownlee unit in Gartnavel Hospital, Glasgow, at 8am on December 29.

After a blood sample tested positive for Ebola, she was transferred in a military plane to the Royal Free Hospital by 8am on December 30.

The hospital said: "The Royal Free Hospital is pleased to announce that Pauline Cafferkey is showing signs of improvement and is no longer critically ill. She remains in isolation as she receives specialist care for the Ebola virus."

Prof Pennington said: ''It is excellent news and suggests she has turned a corner.

"The likely thing is that she will make a full recovery."

He added: ''Sometimes it can take several months. That will depend on the individual patient, you can't make predictions about that at all.''