Abstract
Objective
This study aims to investigate maternal, fetal, and perinatal outcomes during the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Methods
Mortality between pregnant and non-pregnant women of reproductive age admitted to DRC’s Mangina Ebola treatment center (ETC) were compared using propensity score matching. Propensity scores were calculated using age, initial Ebola viral load, Ebola vaccination status, and investigational therapeutic. Additionally, fetal and perinatal outcomes of pregnancies were also described.
Results
Twenty-seven pregnant women were admitted to the Mangina ETC during December 2018—January 2020 among 162 women of childbearing age. We found no evidence of increase mortality among pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women (relative risk:1.0, 95%CI: 0.58–1.72). Among surviving mothers, pregnancy outcomes were poor with at least 58% (11/19) experiencing loss of pregnancy while 16% (3/19) were discharged with viable pregnancy. Two mothers with viable pregnancies were vaccinated, and all received investigational therapeutics. Two live births occurred, with one infant surviving after the infant and mother received an investigational post-exposure prophylaxis and Ebola therapeutic respectively.
Conclusions
Pregnancy was not associated with increased mortality among women with EVD in the Mangina ETC. Fetal and perinatal outcomes remained poor in pregnancies complicated by EVD, though novel therapeutics may have potential for improving these outcomes.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference26 articles.
1. MSF. DRC tenth Ebola outbreak | MSF 2018. https://www.msf.org/drc-tenth-ebola-outbreak (accessed August 18, 2021).
2. WHO. World Health Organization | Ebola virus disease–Democratic Republic of the Congo 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20210311194443/http://www.who.int/csr/don/26-June-2020-ebola-drc/en/ (accessed August 18, 2021).
3. Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak—Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 2018–November 2019;A Aruna;MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep,2019
4. Pregnant Women and the Ebola Crisis;LB Haddad;N Engl J Med,2018
5. Being pregnant during the kivu ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo: The rVSV‐ZEBOV vaccine and its accessibility by mothers and infants during humanitarian crises and in conflict areas;DA Schwartz;Vaccines,2020