Ebola virus disease in the United Kingdom

Cases of Ebola virus disease in the United Kingdom include an aid worker returning from treating victims of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa who contracted the disease.[1] No domestic transmission of Ebola has occurred in the United Kingdom to date.

Ebola virus disease in the United Kingdom
Royal Free Hospital
DiseaseEbola virus
Index caseGlasgow, Scotland
29 December 2014
Confirmed cases3

1976 needlestick case
Articles related to the
West African
Ebola virus epidemic
Overview
Nations with widespread cases
Other affected nations
Other outbreaks

On 5 November 1976, Geoffrey Platt, a laboratory technician at the former Microbiological Research Establishment in Porton Down, Wiltshire, contracted Ebola in an accidental needlestick injury from a contaminated needle while handling samples from Africa.[2] He was treated with human interferon and convalescent serum. The course of his disease was mild and he fully recovered.[3][4]

Medically evacuated cases
Main article: West African Ebola virus epidemic

The high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital, in the Hampstead area of London, received its first case on 24 August 2014. William Pooley, a British nurse who contracted the disease while working in Sierra Leone as part of the relief effort for the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, was medically evacuated by the Royal Air Force on a specially-equipped C-17 aircraft.[5]

He was released from hospital on 3 September 2014.[6] Pooley delivered the UK's Channel 4 television program Alternative Christmas message in 2014.[7] He was reported to be planning to return to Sierra Leone on 19 October 2014.[8] He also donated blood to support developing a cure for the disease.[8]

On 11 March 2015, a UK military worker tested positive for Ebola and was flown home for treatment at Royal Free Hospital in London.[9] On 17 March, it was reported that another UK worker had been sent back to the United Kingdom from Sierra Leone due to fear of having contracted the virus.[10] Corporal Anna Cross, the UK military worker tested positive for Ebola, was the first person in the world to be treated with the experimental Ebola drug MIL 77 and was released from hospital after making a full recovery. Cross contracted the disease in Sierra Leone while volunteering as a nurse. The doctors treating her at London's Royal Free Hospital confirmed it is too soon to speculate if the drug helped in her recovery.[11]

Pauline Cafferkey
Main article: Pauline Cafferkey

2014 initial illness

On 29 December 2014, Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish aid worker who had just returned to Glasgow from Sierra Leone via Casablanca Airport and London Heathrow Airport, was diagnosed with Ebola virus disease at Glasgow's Gartnavel General Hospital.[1][12][13] She had been working at an Ebola treatment centre in Kerry Town in Sierra Leone,[12] and it is thought she contracted the virus as a result of wearing a visor instead of goggles.[14]

After initial treatment in Glasgow, she was transferred to the specialist high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London for longer-term treatment.[12][15] Contact tracing was carried out on the other passengers who had traveled on the flight from London to Glasgow with her.[15] In January 2015, she experienced a period of critical illness,[16] and underwent intensive medical treatment.[17] She was eventually declared to be free of infection, and released from hospital.[18]

Relapses

In October 2015, Cafferkey was diagnosed with late complications caused by the Ebola virus hitherto considered unusual, and readmitted to the Royal Free Hospital. The virus had remained in her cerebrospinal fluid and was feared to be in her central nervous system.[19] Her doctors stated that she had been critically ill due to neurological complications from meningitis, and that she had been treated using a highly experimental anti-viral agent.[20][21][22] On 12 November the Royal Free Hospital said that Cafferkey had made a full recovery and was no longer infectious.[23]

In February 2016, Cafferkey was again readmitted to the Royal Free Hospital due to further complication from her previous infection.[24] Later that month she was declared not to be infectious and discharged.[25] In October 2016, she was again admitted to hospital, and was being monitored by the infectious diseases unit at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.[26] Tests for the Ebola virus were negative.[27]

Subsequent investigations

In 2014, due to the fact that Cafferkey had passed through border controls and travelled on a domestic flight from Heathrow to Glasgow, criticism was levelled at screening protocols at UK points of entry, which mainly consisted of taking a person's temperature and asking a series of questions.[28]

In 2016, proceedings were initiated against Cafferkey by the Nursing and Midwifery Council alleging that she had allowed an incorrect temperature to be recorded during the screening process upon returning to the UK from Sierra Leone in 2014. Following a hearing in September 2016, the charges against her were dismissed after the disciplinary panel was told that she had been impaired by illness at the time.[29]

Needlestick incidents

Healthcare workers who sustained needlestick injuries in January 2015 while caring for Ebola patients were put under medical observation, but not found to have contracted the Ebola virus.[30][31][32]

See also

References
  1. "Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital". BBC News. 29 December 2014.
  2. Sam Rkaina (25 August 2014). "Ebola: Last British man to survive deadly virus says public must be warned of danger". Daily Mirror.
  3. Emond RT, Evans B, Bowen ET, et al. (1977). "A case of Ebola virus infection". British Medical Journal. 2 (6086): 541–544. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.6086.541. PMC 1631428. PMID 890413.
  4. "Outbreaks Chronology: Ebola Virus Disease". CDC. 17 July 2019.
  5. "British Ebola patient arrives in UK for hospital treatment". BBC News. 24 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  6. "Ebola: British nurse makes full recovery and leaves hospital". The Week. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  7. "UEA graduate to deliver Channel 4 Christmas message". 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  8. Helen Lock (19 October 2014). "Ebola outbreak: British survivor William Pooley returns to Sierra Leone to fight the disease". The Independent.
  9. "BBC News - UK female military health worker has Ebola". BBC News. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  10. "BBC News - Ebola: Seventh British health worker sent home". BBC News. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  11. "British medic declared free of Ebola". BBC News. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  12. Severin Carrell; Libby Brooks; Lisa O'Carroll (29 December 2014). "Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow". The Guardian.
  13. "Hero nurse Pauline Cafferkey could have contracted deadly Ebola at Christmas Day service". The Telegraph. 30 December 2014.
  14. Gallagher, James (4 February 2015). "Ebola nurse infection 'down to visor'". BBC News. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  15. "Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey transferred to London unit". BBC News. 30 December 2014.
  16. "BBC News - UK Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'in critical condition'". BBC News. 4 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  17. "Ebola nurse no longer critically ill". BBC News. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  18. "Ebola nurse: Pauline Cafferkey 'happy to be alive'". BBC News. 24 January 2015.
  19. The Guardian newspaper:How Pauline Cafferkey's Ebola relapse tears up everything doctors thought they knew, 16 October 2015
  20. "Ebola caused meningitis in nurse Pauline Cafferkey". BBC News. 21 October 2015.
  21. Dr Michael Jacobs (21 October 2015). Royal Free Hospital Press Conference (Television).
  22. Dr Michael Jacobs (21 October 2015). Ebola-stricken nurse Pauline Cafferkey makes 'significant improvement' (Television production). Royal Free Hospital, London: Press Association. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  23. "Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'has made full recovery'". BBC News. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  24. "Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'stable' after night in London hospital". BBC News. BBC. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  25. "Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey discharged from hospital". BBC News. BBC. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  26. "UK Ebola nurse in 'stable' condition in hospital". BBC News. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  27. "Ebola scare nurse Pauline Cafferkey to spend second day in hospital". The Telegraph & Argus. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  28. "BBC News - Doctor travelling with Ebola nurse: Screening 'chaotic'". BBC News. 30 December 2014.
  29. "UK Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey cleared of misconduct". BBC News. BBC. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  30. "British health worker returned to UK for Ebola monitoring". Channel 4 News. 31 January 2015.
  31. "Ebola: military healthcare worker returns to UK after needle injury". The Guardian. 31 January 2015.
  32. "Second UK military Ebola worker flies back home after needlestick injury". The Guardian. 2 February 2015.

Further reading

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