A 2 year old girl who recently travelled from Guinea has been confirmed to be the first case of Ebola in Mali. The deadly virus started in neighbouring Guinea and since spread to surrounding countries including Seirra Leone and Nigeria and now Mali, making it the 6th African country to be struck by Ebola.
The girl who’s mother died from the virus a weeks back in Guinea was taken by her relatives to Mali. She had spent 10 days in Kayes and was thereafter sent to a hospital in the town where blood tests confirmed she had the deadly virus. Health Minister Ousmane Kone stated that ‘The sick child and the people who were in contact with her in Kayes were immediately identified and taken care of’.
With only one case being found almost two weeks after the girl left Guinea, it comes as no surprise that many questioned how many others who had been in contact with a carrier in any of the disease stricken countries are incubating the virus but have not yet been identified. In a news brief in Geneva the World Health Organisation’s assistant director commented that ‘I think that there is reasonable confidence right now that we are not seeing widespread transmission of Ebola into the neighbouring countries’.
Out of the 6 West African countries to be affected by the virus, deaths have only occurred in three and now Nigeria and Senegal are declared Ebola free.
