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UK Ebola nurse in 'critical condition'

File picture of Pauline Cafferkey, a British nurse who contracted Ebola while treating patients in Sierra Leone.

A British nurse, who contracted Ebola while treating patients in Sierra Leone, has been hospitalized again and is now in a serious condition.

Pauline Cafferkey was flown from a Glasgow hospital to London's Royal Free Hospital due to "rare late complications with the virus."

The British nurse was diagnosed with Ebola back in December.

She spent nearly a month in the isolation unit at London’s Royal Free Hospital and was treated with an experimental anti-viral drug and blood from survivors of the Ebola disease.

An AFP picture shows a general view of The Royal Free Hospital in north of London on January 3, 2015.

 

'Serious condition'

"Pauline's condition is a complication of a previous infection with the Ebola virus,” said Dr. Emilia Crighton, NHSGGC director of public health.

Meanwhile, medical sources at London's Royal Free Hospital said Cafferkey "is in a serious condition." 

People who have come into close contact with the 39-year-old nurse are being monitored as a precaution.

Post-Ebola syndrome

Cafferkey's readmission to hospital has given rise to fresh fears about post-Ebola syndrome.

"Over the past few years, there has been mounting evidence of the mental and physical problems in Ebola survivors that can last for years after the virus is cleared from the bloodstream," said Ben Neuman, an Ebola expert and lecturer in virology at Britain's University of Reading.

"The newly-discovered twist on this post-Ebola syndrome is that, in some cases, the health problems -- often including damage to the eyes and joints -- is actually caused by live Ebola virus growing in bodily fluids in some of the less accessible compartments of the body," he added.

A file photo taken on September 27, 2014 shows medical staff carrying the body of an Ebola victim in Monrovia, Liberia. (©AFP)

According to World Health Organization, Ebola outbreak has claimed 11,312 lives since December 2013.

On Wednesday, the WHO announced that, for the first time in nearly in a year and a half,  there had been no new confirmed Ebola cases in the past week.

 

 


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