Ebola outbreak: Survivor in DR Congo gives birth to healthy baby girl

A woman who was infected with Ebola while pregnant and recovered after treatment has given birth to a healthy baby girl at an Ebola treatment centre in the north eastern city of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors at the centre said both Josephine Ekoli, and her baby Sylvana are well.

Ekoli was infected by the virus and admitted to the treatment centre supported by the U.N. health agency in Beni in December 2018.

Historically, there have been very low survival rates for pregnant women infected with Ebola and for their babies who are born with the virus and almost always die, according to WHO, which said that as far as they know Sylvana is the first baby to be born Ebola-free to a mother who was previously infected.

Ebola has killed 356 of the 585 people infected during the almost six-month outbreak, and one-fifth of the cases have occurred within the past three weeks, WHO said in December.

Congo has suffered 10 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered there in 1976. It spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes hemorrhagic fever with severe vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding.