Two babies from Congo orphanage die of Ebola, highlighting risk to children

After her mother died in late May, baby Buswaza was brought to a church-run orphanage in eastern Congo, where the nuns quickly discovered the newborn was running a fever. Within days, she died from what they later found out was Ebola.

Carers and medics said that after her death, six other babies were identified as suspected Ebola cases at the orphanage of 69 children in Bunia, a city in Ituri province, at the epicentre of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They were taken to the hospital, where five of them later tested negative and were discharged from an isolation tent at the Evangelical Medical Centre (CME) on Tuesday by medics in full protective suits to smiling nuns."

"We thank the hospital staff, we are very grateful," said Sister Clarisse, carrying a baby in a pink hooded gown.

But another one of the babies - an orphan triplet girl nicknamed "Cherie" or "darling" who was less than a year old - with confirmed Ebola died on Wednesday, Dr. Freddy Kibwana, head of the CME, told Reuters. "The child has left us," he said.

Nuns pray for those with Ebola

Children and babies can easily become vectors for the disease through bodily fluids like vomit, faeces, and saliva, which are highly infectious when people have Ebola.

Three of the deceased babies' carers, including a nun, have tested positive for Ebola, aid workers and medics said.

The sisters at the orphanage, established by Belgian nuns in the colonial era, are praying for them.

“We are nuns, but we are also humans, and it has been very emotional," one sister told Reuters, asking for anonymity for fear of being associated with Ebola and stigmatised.

Buswaza, who lived less than two weeks, is one of the youngest victims of the epidemic that has so far infected nearly 600 people and killed at least 115 people across Congo.

As well as fluids like blood and saliva, Ebola has been detected in amniotic fluid and the placenta, the World Health Organization said, so it is possible her mother transmitted the virus to her in the womb or during childbirth.

If the mother caught the virus after giving birth, she may also have transmitted it to her child through breastmilk, where the virus has also been detected.