A pregnant woman is lying on the ground convulsing.

Figure 19.1 Convulsion is a characteristic sign of eclampsia in pregnancy.

Eclampsia is the most severe type of hypertensive disorder. The diagnosis is made when a woman with pre-eclampsia (most commonly), or any other type of hypertensive disorder, develops convulsions (fits or seizures, Figure 19.1) or coma (complete loss of consciousness). The convulsion looks like the seizure you might have witnessed in a person with epilepsy (in Amharic: Yemitil Beshita). You will learn more about this type of convulsion later in this study session.

Last modified: Sunday, 13 July 2014, 7:06 PM