Atypical clinical presentation of Ebola virus disease in pregnancy: Implications for clinical and public health management

Pavlin, Boris I., Hall, Andrew, Hajek, Jan, Raja, Muhammad Ali, Sharma, Vikas, Ramadan, Otim Patrick, Mishra, Sharmistha, Rangel, Audrey, Kitching, Aileen, Roper, Katrina, O'Dempsey, Tim ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9596-9687, Starkulla, Judith, Parry, Amy Elizabeth, Kamara, Rashida and Wurie, Alie H. (2020) 'Atypical clinical presentation of Ebola virus disease in pregnancy: Implications for clinical and public health management'. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol 97, pp. 167-173.

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Abstract

Background
Between December 2013 and June 2016, West Africa experienced the largest Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in history. Understanding EVD in pregnancy is important for EVD clinical screening and infection prevention and control.

Methods
We conducted a review of medical records and EVD investigation reports from three districts in Sierra Leone. We report the clinical presentations and maternal and fetal outcomes of six pregnant women with atypical EVD, and subsequent transmission events from perinatal care.

Results
The six women (ages 18–38) were all in the third trimester. Each presented with signs and symptoms initially attributed to pregnancy. None met EVD case definition; only one was known at presentation to be a contact of an EVD case. Five women died, and all six fetuses/neonates died. These cases resulted in at least 35 additional EVD cases.

Conclusions
These cases add to the sparse literature focusing on pregnant women with EVD, highlighting challenges and implications for outbreak control. Infected newborns may also present atypically and may shed virus while apparently asymptomatic. Pregnant women identified a priori as contacts of EVD cases require special attention and planning for obstetrical care.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	QW Microbiology and Immunology > Viruses > QW 160 Viruses (General). Virology WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 310 Maternal welfare WA Public Health > Health Administration and Organization > WA 525 General works WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. Other Virus Diseases > WC 534 Viral hemorrhagic fevers WQ Obstetrics > Pregnancy Complications > WQ 240 Pregnancy complications (General)
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > Clinical Sciences Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.064
Depositing User:	Stacy Murtagh
Date Deposited:	22 Jun 2020 09:11
Last Modified:	08 Jul 2020 10:28
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/14805

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