Ebola hemorrhagic fever and pregnancy

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 abortio n. In 3 of them, a curettage was performed, and all 3 received a blood tran sfusion from an apparently healthy person. One woman was prematurely delive red 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 a menorrhea. The mortality among pregnant women with Ebola hemorrhagic fever (95.5%) was slightly but not significantly higher than the overall mortalit y observed during the Ebola epidemic in Kikwit (77%; 245/316 infected perso ns).