British nurse with ebola has made a miraculous recovery

A nurse who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone has made a complete recovery and been discharged from hospital.

Pauline Cafferkey is now free of the virus after more than three weeks in hospital, where she was critically ill for a time.

She said she is ‘happy to be alive’ and thanked staff at the Royal Free Hospital in London who she said saved her life.


Ms Cafferkey was diagnosed with ebola after returning to Glasgow and was initially admitted to the city’s Gartnavel Hospital on December 29, then transferred to the Royal Free the following day.

Dr Michael Jacobs (left) with Pauline Cafferkey, the nurse who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone who has made a complete recovery and been discharged from the Royal Free Hospital in London

The nurse, from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, had volunteered with Save The Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town before returning to the UK.

Ms Cafferkey was discharged from hospital today and said she is looking forward to going home.
She said: ‘I am just happy to be alive. I still don’t feel 100%, I feel quite weak, but I’m looking forward to going home.

‘I want to say a big thank you to the staff who treated me – they were amazing. They were always very reassuring and I knew I was in the best hands. They saved my life.’