Nigerian Ebola survivor gives birth in US hospital

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An Ebola survivor and an official of the First Consultant Medical Centre, Lagos, Dr. Ada Igonoh, on Tuesday gave birth to a baby girl in the United States of America.

According to the management of the FCMC, the baby girl is healthy and has been certified Ebola free by doctors at the Greater El-Monte Community Hospital in California, US.

FCMC, in a statement on Tuesday, noted that Igonoh was under medical surveillance during her pregnancy and delivery to ensure that her child was born free of the viral infection.

The virus, according to some medics, can stay in a victim’s semen or body system many months after contracting the disease.

Igonoh is the only female medical doctor to have survived the deadly disease after seven other officials in the hospital had primary contact with the index patient, Patrick Sawyer.

Igonoh noted that she was exposed to Sawyer while she was re-administering an I.V. fluid on Sawyer, who was on admission at the hospital.

Igonoh, who has since been free of the viral disease, said she had to incorporate some dietary changes to boost her immunity levels even after she was discharged from the isolation centre in Lagos last year.

The first Ebola case was reported in Nigeria on July 20, 2014, when the late Sawyer, a Liberian, flew into Lagos.

Sawyer, who was without Ebola symptoms at the time of his admission at the hospital, infected two doctors, a nurse and a ward aide.

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, 19 Ebola cases were established in the country, 15 in Lagos and four in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Seven persons reportedly died in the country while the outbreak lasted. One of the dead was a senior consultant with FCMC, Dr. Stella Adedavoh, who treated Sawyer.

Source: Punch