LONDON, Dec. 31 -- Britain's Ebola patient Pauline Cafferkey has agreed to be treated with a new anti-viral drug to help her fight the disease, British doctors in London said Wednesday.

Cafferkey, a 39-year-old female healthcare worker, was confirmed on Monday as having Ebola after returning to Glasgow in central Scotland from Sierra Leone on Sunday night.

Michael Jacobs, a British infectious diseases specialist who has been treating Cafferkey at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, said the patient had agreed to the treatments, including some experimental medicine.

"The one thing I'll say about the drug - it has been used extensively in people previously for different reasons, and it has a very good safety record in humans which has encouraged us to use it in this experimental way," Jacobs told a press conference on Wednesday.

He added that there is "very good reason" to believe the new anti-viral drug will help the patient, otherwise doctors would not be using it at all.

He noted that the patient "has been eating a bit, drinking and she's been in communication with her family, which has been really nice."

"She's a nurse, a fellow professional, so we have been able to discuss things in great detail," said the doctor.