Scottish nurse previously infected with Ebola readmitted to hospital

The Royal Free Hospital in London Friday confirmed that Pauline Cafferkey, the Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola in West Africa last year, had been readmitted to an isolation unit in the hospital due to "an unusual late complication" of her previous infection.

In a statement, the hospital said that Cafferkey was transferred from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in the early hours of this morning, and she would be treated in the hospital's high level isolation unit under nationally agreed guidelines.

She had been admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday after feeling unwell and was treated in the infectious diseases unit, the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said.

NHSGGC also said that the Ebola virus was detected in Cafferkey but it was left over from the original infection.

The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic so "the risk to the general public remains low."

The NHS has well established and practiced infection control procedures in place, according to the Royal Free Hospital. It is Britain's specialist treatment center for Ebola.

The 39-year-old nurse worked in Sierra Leone at the end of last year, where she contracted the Ebola virus. She received treatment in isolation at the Royal Free hospital for almost a month. Endit