British nurse infected with Ebola set to get experiment anti-viral drug

The British nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone has agreed to be treated with an experimental anti-viral drug, her doctor says.

Pauline Cafferkey, a public health nurse at Blantyre Health Centre in South Lanarkshire, is receiving specialist treatment in a quarantine tent at the Royal Free Hospital in north London after initially flying home to Glasgow.

Dr Michael Jacobs said Ms Cafferkey was being treated with convalescent plasma taken from the blood of a recovered patient and an experimental anti-viral drug which is "not proven to work".

He said: "She is sitting up and talking. She is able to read. She's been eating a bit, drinking and she's been in communication with her family, which has been really nice.

"She's as well as we can hope for at this stage of the illness.

"She's had the treatment, it's gone very smoothly, no side-effects at all."

Dr Jacobs said the hospital was unable to obtain ZMapp, the drug used to treat fellow British volunteer nurse William Pooley, who recovered, because "there is none in the world at the moment".

"Although it's been used in a handful of patients, we simply don't know if ZMapp works and is of benefit to patients," he said.