Kibadi Mupapa, Woliere Mukundu, Mpia Ado Bwaka, Mungala Kipasa, Ann De Roo, Kivudi Kuvula, Kapay Kibadi, Matondo Massamba, Djuma Ndaberey, Robert Colebunders, and J. J. Muyembe-Tamfum
Fifteen (14%) of 105 women with Ebola hemorrhagic fever hospitalized in the isolation unit of
the Kikwit General Hospital (Democratic Republic of the Congo) were pregnant. In 10 women
(66%) the pregnancy ended with an abortion. In 3 of them, a curettage was performed, and all 3
received a blood transfusion from an apparently healthy person. One woman was prematurely
delivered of a stillbirth. Four pregnant women died during the third trimester of their pregnancy.
All women presented with severe bleeding. Only 1 survived; she had a curettage because of an
incomplete abortion after 8 months of amenorrhea. The mortality among pregnant women with
Ebola hemorrhagic fever (95.5%) was slightly but not significantly higher than the overall mortality
observed during the Ebola epidemic in Kikwit (77%; 245/316 infected persons).