Ebola survivor mom gives birth to virus free baby in DR Congo

A woman who survived Ebola while pregnant gave birth to a healthy child in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's Health Ministry said Thursday.

According to the ministry, the baby, named Sylvana, is the first infant to be born healthy from a mother who was infected by Ebola during her pregnancy period.

Sylvana was born with 3.7 kilograms of weight in the Ebola treatment center of Beni city, North Kivu province.

The baby is pronounced Ebola-free after health personnel performed two tests.

On the other hand, the number of people who have lost their lives due to the Ebola epidemic rose to 335 since late July, 2018.

A report from the Health Ministry shows among the 628 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, 580 were confirmed to be Ebola cases.

More than 222 people have recovered from the virus.

Some 48 people died after they had a hemorrhagic fever, their cause of death could not be verified.

A total of 57,471 people were administered anti-Ebola vaccines in the country with a campaign which started on Aug. 8.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.

Ebola caused global alarm in 2014 when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.