THE SCOTTISH NURSE being treated for Ebola at a London hospital has agreed to try an experimental drug to treat the virus.
Staff at the Royal Free Hospital said this afternoon that patient Pauline Cafferkey is sitting up in bed, talking and reading.
However a doctor involved in her treatment warned that the outcome is not yet known.
“We are giving her the very best care possible,” said Dr Michael Jacobs, an infectious diseases consultant at the hospital.
“However, the next few days will be crucial. The disease has a variable course and we will know much more in a week’s time”.
Cafferkey, 39, returned to the UK on 28 December after volunteering to treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. She was admitted to hospital the following day.
The hospital said today that “after careful consideration” Cafferkey decided she would like to have blood plasma treatment and take an experimental anti-viral drug.
Cafferkey is being treated at the high level isolation unit at the London hospital, which is run by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses and laboratory staff.
A specially-designed tent with controlled ventilation has been set up around her bed, allowing the staff to provide clinical care while containing the infection.
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said authorities in Ireland are in daily contact with their counterparts in Britain as they monitor the situation.
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