- Pauline Cafferkey, 39, flown from Glasgow to Royal Free Hospital by RAF
- Ten days ago she met PM's wife at Downing Street reception for heroes
- NHS nurse fell ill last year after treating Ebola sufferers in Sierra Leone
- She recovered but the Glasgow health board says virus has been detected
- Health officials say she poses a 'low risk' and is in isolation as a precaution
A British nurse who contracted Ebola is back in hospital today after falling ill with the deadly virus again - just ten days after she met Samantha Cameron in Downing Street.
Pauline Cafferkey, 39, was flown from Glasgow back to the Royal Free Hospital in north London by the RAF this morning, ten months after she first recovered from the illness.
She is said to have developed an 'unusual late complication' as a result of the original Ebola infection and tests have revealed that the virus is still lingering in her body.
The NHS nurse is now back in the isolation unit where she spent a month and became critically ill after being diagnosed with Ebola last December.
Confirming the relapse Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted: 'Thoughts with Pauline Cafferkey today as she battles Ebola for the second time'.
Back in hospital: Pauline Cafferkey, 39, (left last week) has been flown from Glasgow back to the Royal Free Hospital in north London, where she spent a month in isolation last December (pictured right after her initial recovery)
Gala: Pauline Cafferkey (circled) was in Downing Street to meet Samantha Cameron (far right) ten days ago after being given a Pride of Britain award
Transport: This is the moment Pauline Cafferkey was wheeled from an RAF jet on a bed surrounded by a protective bubble and into a waiting ambulance
Protection: Police closed roads between RAF Northolt and the Royal Free in Hampstead - the same journey she took after falling ill at Christmas after getting Ebola in Sierra Leone
overnment sources have told MailOnline that Miss Cafferkey - who left the Royal Free in January - poses a low risk to the public. It is only spread by body fluids, such as blood, faeces and saliva.
The incubation period - the time between infection and the onset of symptoms - ranges from two days to three weeks.
Ten days ago she was given a Pride of Britain for her humanitarian work and also met the Prime Minister's wife Samantha Cameron the following day at Downing Street, alongside other winners.
But had complained about never fully recovering from Ebola after leaving hospital in January.
She said that her ordeal meant that her hair was falling out and she had problems with her thyroid.
It is understood that the nurse had taken herself to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday after feeling unwell.
It appears that officials then found traces of the virus remained in her body and she was then flown by the RAF from Glasgow to London overnight.
She landed at RAF Northolt at around 6am and was taken off a military aircraft in a bed surrounded by a plastic bubble.
She was then transferred by ambulance to the Royal Free and police stopped traffic to allow a quick transfer to the isolation unit.
Professor Paul Cosford, Medical Director at Public Health England said: 'We can confirm that Pauline Cafferkey was transferred from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in the early hours of this morning due to an unusual late complication of her previous illness.
'She was transported in a military aircraft under the supervision of experts. She will now be treated in isolation in line with nationally agreed guidelines.
'The Scottish health authorities will be following up on a small number of close contacts of Pauline's as a precaution.
'It is important to remember that the ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic.
'The risk to the general public remains low and the NHS has well established and practised infection control procedures in place.'
The NHS nurse had been a volunteer with Save the Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town Sierra Leone last year.
But she then fell ill when she returned to the UK just after Christmas, sparking panic because she had been on flights with hundreds of people.
After becoming gravely ill she survived after being given an anti-viral drug and is being transfused with blood plasma from a European Ebola survivor.
Critical: The nurse, who had been volunteering in Africa, had been in a deteriorating condition but survived thanks to a mix of anti-virals and blood plasma from a survivor
Transfer: The nurse (circled) was diagnosed with Ebola and was seen walking from an ambulance at Glasgow Airport as she was moved by military aircraft to London on December 30 last year
Special care: This is the High Level Isolation Unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London where Pauline Cafferkey is being held
Last week she was on television talking about her illness after picking up a Pride of Britain award.
She told ITV's Lorraine she would go back to Sierra Leone again to treat patients.
Explaining how she felt when she realised she had Ebola: 'Outwardly I just tried to be stoical about everything but inside obviously, I was very frightened.
'I knew it could have gone three ways - it could have been mild, it could have been severe which it was with me and it could have been death the other outcome which I came very close to.'
She admitted afterwards that she had felt like 'giving up' as her condition became critical.
Miss Cafferkey's case sparked a review of Britain's Ebola screening systems.
She spent five weeks treating victims in Sierra Leone and then flew back to the UK.
It later emerged that officials at Heathrow had allowed her to board a connecting flight to Glasgow even though she had complained of a fever, testing her temperature seven times.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt then announced that officials must use more rigorous checks for doctors and nurses returning to the UK following volunteer work.
Before her case the screening only involved them having their temperature taken and filling-in a questionnaire about whether they have come into contact with patients.
It meant that anyone who was mildly unwell was made to undergo further checks even if their temperature seems normal.
The disease has no known cure and is unpredictable.
The most recent outbreak of Ebola mainly affected three countries in West Africa: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
More than 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths have been reported by the World Health Organisation.
Nurse Will Pooley, from Suffolk, last year became the first Briton to contract Ebola while working out in Sierra Leone. Following his recovery he returned to the country to continue helping treat patients.
Nurse Pauline Cafferkey was later diagnosed with the illness after returning from healthcare work in West Africa.
British Army medic Anna Cross, 25, recovered from the disease after being treated with an experimental drug. All three were treated at the high-level isolation ward at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Emergency: Pauline landed at a nearby RAF base and then was taken to the Royal Free in London for special care this morning
WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR EBOLA AND WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PATIENTS WHO FALL ILL WITH THE KILLER DISEASE?
There are currently no specific drugs to cure Ebola, nor any approved vaccines to prevent the disease.
Two experimental vaccines are currently being trialled on human volunteers in the UK, US, Mali and Uganda.
The Royal Free Hospital (right) is the only High Level Isolation Unit in the UK to house two high-security containment beds.
They are located inside isolation 'bubbles' - specially-designed tents with controlled ventilation allowing medics to provide clinical care while containing the infection.
Three other hospitals - The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Victoria Infirmary and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals - are designated centres for escalation if there was an epidemic.
There are around 50 other designated Ebola beds at these three centres.
Medics will work to re hydrate patients using oral and intravenous fluids.
Specific symptoms such as diarrohea and fever will be treated directly, to try and improve chances of surviving.
William Pooley, the British nurse who survived Ebola, was treated with the experimental drug ZMapp.
It is a blend of three laboratory-made antibodies designed to neutralise the virus.
Two US aid workers, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were also given the drug after they were infected with the virus while working in Liberia. They too, subsequently recovered.
But experts do not know if those given the drug were saved by it, or whether luck played a part.
Around 45 per cent of those infected in the current outbreak have survived without treatment.
ZMapp, developed by US biotech company Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, is manufactured in the leaves of genetically modified tobacco plants.
The process could yield 20 to 40 doses a month.
Evidence suggests that effective treatment with ZMapp requires three doses of 15 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
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