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Save the Children 'urgently reviewing' Ebola protocols
Save the Children 'urgently reviewing' Ebola protocols
(about 4 hours later)
Save the Children says a review investigating how a British nurse in a critical condition with Ebola had contracted the virus would “leave no stone unturned”.
The British nurse who contracted Ebola remains in a critical condition as an investigation into the source of the infection is launched in Sierra Leone.
The Royal Free hospital, in north London, said Pauline Cafferkey’s condition had deteriorated over the past few days while she was being treated with an experimental antiviral drug.
Pauline Cafferkey is in the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead in north London after being diagnosed with the disease a week ago upon her return to Britain.
The Scottish public health nurse had volunteered with Save the Children at the Ebola treatment centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, before returning to the UK and the charity on Monday said it was urgently reviewing its protocols.
She was working for three weeks at the British built Kerry Town hospital, run by Save the Children.
Rob MacGillivray from the charity told the BBC he hoped to discover whether Cafferkey had contracted the virus while at the treatment centre or in the community.
The charity’s Sierra Leone director Rob MacGillivray told the BBC: “Pauline’s condition remains unchanged, she is still in the Royal Free hospital in London in a critical condition.”
He said: “We have a review on at the moment. We are constantly reviewing our protocols and procedures to ensure staff working in Kerry Town centre take all measures possible to prevent themselves becoming infected with Ebola.
He said the charity’s thoughts and prayers were with the nurse and her family at this “very difficult time” and everyone was hoping for a full and speedy recovery.
“And because of this very serious event we have put in an extraordinary review to ensure that we do everything, can leave no stone unturned to, as far as possible, identify the source of this infection.
The hospital issued a statement on Saturday afternoon saying that her condition had deteriorated over the previous two days and that the volunteer nurse was now in a critical condition.
“Everybody is exposed to a certain amount of risk working in Sierra Leone at the moment but we will certainly be focusing on how the personal protection equipment was used, how it was put on, and more importantly how it was taken off. The kinds of contact people have had perhaps in Kerry Town centre and perhaps outside so it it will be a very full and thorough review.”
MacGillivray said the charity would leave no stone unturned in its investigation into how the nurse, who works in South Lanarkshire, contracted Ebola.
MacGillivray added he was “confident” in the protocols the charity had in place and the results of the review would be published once completed.
“We are constantly reviewing our protocols and procedures to ensure staff working in the Kerry Town centre and outside take all measures possible to prevent themselves becoming infected with Ebola.
Cafferkey, who works at Blantyre Health Centre in south Lanarkshire, was part of a 30-strong team of medical volunteers deployed to Sierra Leone by the UK government in November and had been there for three weeks before returning home on rotation for a break, the charity boss added.
“Because of this very serious event, we’ve put in an extraordinary review to ensure that we do everything and leave no stone unturned to as far as is possible to identify the source of this infection,” he said.
David Cameron said Ebola was the “uppermost thing” on his mind following news of Cafferkey’s condition.
Cafferkey had been in Sierra Leone since 23 November and returned to the UK on a Royal Air Maroc flight via Casablanca on 28 December.
The prime minister told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “It’s certainly the thing uppermost in my mind today with Pauline Cafferkey in hospital, and all of us are thinking of her and her family.
After having her temperature taken seven times, she was cleared to take her onward journey home to Glasgow where she became unwell overnight. She was taken to hospital the next morning and transferred to London on 30 December.
“And also how incredibly brave these people are, not only doctors and nurses from our NHS but also people from our armed forces who have been working in west Africa in very difficult conditions.”
The next day, the consultant leading her treatment team said she was well enough to sit up, talk and read. But by Saturday her health had taken a turn for the worse.
Cafferkey first raised concerns about her temperature when she returned to Heathrow airport last Sunday, but despite undergoing seven temperature checks she was given the all-clear to fly to Glasgow where she lives.
Cafferkey is the 20th Ebola patient to be treated outside of west Africa, where more than 20,000 have been infected and around 8,000 have died.
The following morning she was diagnosed with Ebola and placed in isolation at Gartnavel hospital campus in Glasgow before being flown south.
Of the 20 treated in Europe and the US, five have died. At least one, Dr Ian Crozier, came close to death before recovering. His viral load was off the scale and he was on life support and dialysis machines, but turned the corner following a donation of plasma from the British Ebola survivor, nurse Will Pooley.
The PM said he was listening to medical experts about whether a system of quarantine should be put in place for returning health workers.
Cafferkey, 39, has also received survivor’s plasma along with an unidentified experimental drug.
Asked whether airport screening was failing, he said: “Her temperature was taken several times but then she was allowed to go on and travel to Scotland and what I have said very clearly is we should have a precautionary principle in place.
Pooley, who was also treated at the Royal Free, made a full recovery within a week but his disease course did not extend to the stage of vomiting and diarrhoea, which can cause fatal dehydration and depletion of electrolytes.
“If you are still in doubt, if there’s uncertainty, there’s proper arrangements for you to go to the Northwick Park hospital in Middlesex to be observed and to have further tests there before going further.
He received the experimental drug ZMapp, which is no longer available. A related drug ZMab is thought to be available but the hospital will not confirm whether Cafferkey has received this.
“That is happening already, I am absolutely clear about that.
“If we need to change further, if the chief medical officer says we need a system of quarantine or anything like that, then we should put that in place.
“But it is important to listen to the medical experts and then make the decision.”
The government’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, acknowledged last week that questions had been raised about the airport screening procedure for Ebola.
The Royal Free hospital said on Saturday: “The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is sorry to announce that the condition of Pauline Cafferkey has gradually deteriorated over the past two days and is now critical.”
Her sudden change in condition came after her doctor described her as sitting up, eating, drinking and communicating with her family on New Year’s Day.
Dr Michael Jacobs warned that she faced a “critical” few days while she is treated with convalescent plasma taken from the blood of an Ebola survivor and an experimental antiviral drug which is “not proven to work”.
She is the second Briton to test positive and the first to do so on UK soil after nurse William Pooley, 29, contracted Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone in August before getting the all-clear following treatment at the Royal Free hospital.
The hospital, where Cafferkey has been treated since Tuesday, was unable to obtain ZMapp, the drug used to treat Pooley, because “there is none in the world at the moment”.
The hospital has insisted that there is “no danger” to staff or patients and it is “open for business as normal” while the 39-year-old is treated in an isolation unit.
In a statement it said: “The Royal Free London is currently treating a patient for the Ebola virus in a high-level isolation unit.
“There is no danger to patients or staff during this time.
“The Royal Free hospital is open for business as usual, with in-patient, out-patient and emergency care continuing as normal.”
Public Health England confirmed on Friday that all UK-based passengers and crew aboard the two flights taken by the nurse from Morocco and London were contacted by medical authorities and given advice.
