Health
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The ministry of health in Mali has recorded two more news cases of citizens who are infected with the Ebola virus disease
MALI’s ministry of health has confirmed an additional two new cases of Ebola virus disease. The first, confirmed on November 22, occurred in the 23-year-old fiancée of the 25-year-old nurse who attended the Grand Imam from Guinea (the index case in this outbreak) and died of Ebola on November 11.
The young woman developed symptoms on November 19 and, on November 20, was hospitalised in isolation at Bamako’s Ebola treatment centre, a new facility which opened last week.
Because of her association with the nurse, most of her close contacts were already under surveillance. Her case was detected early in the disease course. Her quick isolation has further reduced opportunities for community exposures.
The second new case is part of a family of previously confirmed and deceased patients. The 27-year-old man lost his mother and half-brother to Ebola. He developed symptoms on November 19, and was admitted for treatment at the new facility on November 24. Laboratory confirmation was received the same day.
The identification of patient contacts for daily monitoring has reportedly reached 99 percent. Based on experiences in Senegal and Nigeria, this achievement could augur well for rapid containment of Mali’s outbreak.
To date, all seven cases in this second wave of infections can be linked to contact with an Imam who developed symptoms on October 17 in his native village of Kourémalé, Guinea, and arrived in Bamako on October 24, for treatment at the Pasteur Clinic.
His case has been classified as a Guinea case as he developed symptoms there. After his death on October 27, his body was returned to Kourémalé for a funeral the following day that attracted a large number of mourners.
These events ignited additional chains of transmission in Guinea, including several deaths, which are currently under investigation by WHO epidemiologists. Most of these patients had symptom onset in early to mid-November, indicating ongoing chains of transmission.
With WHO support, staff from Mali’s ministry of health will be meeting with health officials from Guinea to discuss cross-border measures for coordinating control efforts and reducing the likelihood that additional cases will be imported from Guinea into Mali.
— Dec. 8, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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