The first Ebola Centre for Pregnant
Women has opened in Freetown, one of
the three West African nations most
affected by the disease a report said on
Thursday.
The medical humanitarian organisation,
Medecins San Frontieres (Doctors Without
Borders) opened the centre in the city,
The report said the centre is to address
the high rate of deaths among expectant
mothers and health workers who care for
them.
The opening of the centre came in the
wake of local media reports that over 300
babies were buried within the past eight
days in Freetown alone.
The 80-bed facility, which would focus
mainly on treating pregnant women
suspected or confirmed to have Ebola, is
located in the east of the capital.
It is expected to bring the much-needed
relief to residents in that part of the city
which, even in normal times, records
some of the country’s highest prenatal
and postnatal mortality rates.
The group said that the key reason for
setting up the specialist unit is to
minimise the risk that pregnant women
could pose to the health workers who
were treating them.
Dr Benjamin Black, an Obstetrician who is
on sabbatical at MSF researching how
best to treat Ebola-affected pregnant
women, said very little was known about
Ebola and pregnancy.
“The Ebola virus is attracted to certain
types of cells within the body.
“The placenta happens to have a lot of
those cells and invades those cells so it
can multiply because of that you get a
high amount of Ebola virus in the
placenta and therefore crossing to the
baby,’’Black said.
Experts say that the viral load of Ebola in
the placenta and the foetus, as well as
the surrounding fluids, is extremely high,
even if the woman herself has recovered
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