Survivor’s blood used for nurse’s treatment

The British nurse who contracted ebola in Sierra Leone has agreed to be treated with an experimental anti-viral drug and blood from a survivor of the virus, her doctor has said.

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

Yesterday it emerged that Ms Cafferkey is a cousin of former Ireland international goalkeeper Packie Bonner. The former Glasgow Celtic keeper’s mother and Ms Cafferkey’s grandmother were sisters, and it is understood that the nurse has extended family in Kincasslagh, West Donegal.