Ebola nurse ‘is putting herself at risk’ by f lying back to Africa
FEARS have been raised over the safety of ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey after she announced plans to return to the country where she contracted the disease.
The Scottish nurse said she hopes the fundraising trip next month will help to bring ‘closure’ after a ‘terrible couple of years’.
Miss Cafferkey developed ebola in Sierra Leone in 2014 and has suffered two relapses and health scares because of complications, at one stage becoming critically ill.
The 41-year-old, from Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, also faced disciplinary proceedings over events surrounding her return to the UK, for which she was later cleared.
Speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme yesterday, the nurse said returning to Sierra Leone will be ‘psychologically important’.
But infectious diseases expert Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, said the consequences of relapsing while abroad could be fatal.
He added: ‘Pauline is a very unusual case, having suffered so many relapses. One relapse is unlikely in an ebola sufferer and Pauline has had two, so she is in uncharted territory.
‘It’s highly unlikely she will relapse again while abroad, but if she does there is a worry that she won’t have access to the same care as she did the last time she fell ill.’
He added: ‘In terms of getting another infection she is almost certainly protected and it is extremely unlikely that she’s still contagious.’
Miss Cafferkey, a nurse for 16 years, travelled to Freetown to volunteer at a Save The Children ebola treatment centre.
She returned to the UK on December 28, 2014, for what was supposed to be a break but she was quickly struck down with the disease.
There were fears for her life but her condition stabilised by early January and she was discharged from hospital later that month, with doctors saying she had recovered. However, she was readmitted three times during 2015 and 2016.
Last year she faced misconduct proceedings before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) over claims relating to her arrival in the UK in the early stages of her infection.
Miss Cafferkey was cleared as her judgment at Heathrow Airport had been so impaired by the developing illness that she could not be found guilty of misconduct.
The nurse will return to Sierra Leone to raise funds for UK-based charity Street Child, which helps youngsters affected by the
‘My body was destroyed’
ebola epidemic. It estimates 12,000 children were orphaned, with 1,400 still struggling to survive.
While there she will take part in a 10km run.
Miss Cafferkey said: ‘My body was destroyed. It’s been a long, slow process and I’m still healing.
‘Sierra Leone is where things started for me so it will be good to go back for things to get a bit of closure. I’ve had a few people say, “Just be careful when you get there”.’
A fundraising page set up on the Sierra Leone Marathon website by the nurse had last night raised £355 of its £3,000 target.