British Ebola Nurse ‘Critically Ill’ Months After Initial Infection; Case Highlights Unknowns About Viral Persistence, Experts Say

Agence France-Presse: British Ebola nurse now ‘critically ill’: hospital
“A British nurse who was successfully treated in January after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone is now ‘critically ill’ due to a resurgence of the virus, the hospital treating her said Wednesday…” (Haddon, 10/14).

Associated Press: Condition of hospitalized Ebola nurse in U.K. worsens
“…[Pauline] Cafferkey was treated for Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone last year. She was released from the hospital’s high-level isolation unit in January but she suffered a relapse last week and was flown by military plane into London for treatment…” (10/14).

New York Times: Ebola Survivor From Scotland Is Critically Ill
“…[T]he case … points to how much is still unknown about the virus and its long-term effects. Doctors are grappling with why Ms. Cafferkey’s current illness happened so many months after her initial infection in Sierra Leone, where she had gone as a volunteer, and why similar cases have not been well documented in the three West African countries that are now home to thousands of survivors…” (Fink, 10/14).

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