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First Ebola Case In Mali Dies

Mali’s first reported case of Ebola, a two-year-old girl, died on Friday, possibly exposing hundreds of people to the virus as her grandmother took her all the way from Guinea through a thousand-kilometer bus journey.

The little girl’s nose was bleeding when was picked up by her grandmother from the Ebola-stricken country of Guinea and brought her to Mali’s capital, Bamako, to the western town of Kayes, where she was diagnosed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Health officials now as struggling to trace the people who had possible contact with the girl, in a bid to contain the virus in the West African country.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”–World Health Organization statement”]

W.H.O. is treating the situation in Mali as an emergency. The child’s symptomatic state during the bus journey is especially concerning as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures–including high-risk exposures–involving many people.

[/quote]

The grandmother attended what seems to be the funeral of the girl’s mother in Kissingdou, located at Guinea’s Forest Region, the origin of the current outbreak, The New York Times reported.

The Malian government confirmed the child’s death and asked the public to observe proper hygiene to avoid the further spreading of the disease.

“In this moment of sadness, the government would like to express its condolences to her family and reminds the population that maintain very strict hygiene rules remains the best way to contain this disease,” it said.

Mali is the sixth West African nation to record a case of Ebola and is one of the most impoverished countries in the world. Just like its neighboring countries, Mali has inadequate capacity to respond to the disease, made worse by the country’s weak institutions and political instability.

More than 10,000 people have been infected by the deadly virus, 5,000 of which have died, the W.H.O. said, and the numbers continue to rise. The agency warned that there are many cases that are unreported and the figures could be much higher, The Daily Mail reported.

 

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