Ebola nurse named Time magazine's person of the year dies during chidbirth

Image credit: BBC

New Delhi: Liberian nurse Salome Karwah who survived Ebola and was named Time magazine's person of the year in 2014 has died after giving birth to a son.

The 28-year-old nurse died last week after giving birth to Jeramiah by cesarean section on February 17.

Her husband James Harris said that nurses were unwilling to touch her because she was a survivor of Ebola, reported the Daily Mail.

The mother-of-four, from Liberia, who tested negative for the disease, was re-admitted to hospital as she experienced complications after the birth.

Harris said his wife started having convulsions and foamed at the mouth.

"(The doctor) was checking Facebook," he said. "Nurses came to help, but the doctor told me that she would not touch her, and that if (Salome) stayed (at the hospital) she would die."

Hospital workers did not treat her as quickly as they could have because of lingering superstitions about Ebola survivors, Harris said.

Chief Medical Officer, Francis Kateh, said: "We have to do a thorough investigation."

Karwah, who lost her mother, father and brother to Ebola in 2014, was one of those named as Time's 'Ebola Fighters' as Person of the Year' for her frontline work against the disease.

The couple, who met in 2013, married in January 2016. Both caught the disease in 2014 during Ebola crisis. Karwah was pregnant at the time, her sister and Harris survived the outbreak.

When they recovered, they were hired by Doctors Without Borders to help care for sufferers at their unit here.

While working for the charity, Karwah was not afraid of touching people with the disease and soothed crying babies back to sleep.

As she had survived the usually deadly disease, she could touch sufferers and not be at risk of contracting Ebola again.

Karwah's friend Adolphus Mawolo has launched a crowdfunding page to help support Harris, who is unemployed, and his four children.

Mawolo hopes to raise $20,000 to pay for medical bills, food, clothing and shelter.

More than 4,800 people died of Ebola in Liberia during the epidemic, including 184 health workers.

(With IANS inputs)