The first Ebola case confirmed in Mali is a 2 year old girl. Her diagnosis was established on Thursday. She had been brought to Mali from the neighboring Guinea, where the outbreak is believed to have started in the first place. Forty-three people are being currently monitored, after coming in contact with the 2 year old girl, according to World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic. The World Health Organization will send extra medical personnel to Mali, in order to help the country prevent future spread of Ebola, after Mali’s first confirmed case of infection.
Out of the forty-three people monitored for having come into contact with the 2 year old girl are also ten medical workers. They came into contact with the infected child in the town of Kayes, situated west of the capital Bamako. According to Tarik Jasarevic, the spokesman for the World Health Organization, the additional medical staff is being sent over to Mali in order to help Mali’s Ministry of Health in containing the Ebola virus. Also, new vaccine trials are being run. There are five more possible Ebola vaccines available. However, they need to undergo a clinical testing first, according to Marie-Paule Kieny, the assistant director-general of the World Health Organization. She also said that if everything goes according to plan, “a few hundred thousand doses” of Ebola vaccine should be available by the first half of next year. The trials will be done on 20,000 – 30,000 Ebola infected subjects. These trials will begin in January 2015. On Friday, Herman van Rompuy, the European Council President announced that EU will increase its help towards West Africa, in order to fight Ebola. The sum of money allocated will increase from $380 million to $1.2 billion.
As far as the 2 year old girl’s family goes, her father had died because of Ebola back in Guinea. She was taken to a hospital in Kayes, after presenting symptoms similar to the ones of Ebola. Markatie Daou, Health Ministry spokeswoman, stated: “The girl is still in the hospital in Kayes together with members of her family who might have been exposed to the virus”. The girl came to the clinic on Thursday, after coming to Mali with her grandmother. Mali is now the sixth country in West Africa to be affected by the deadly Ebola virus. Up to this point, Ebola has caused the deaths of 4,800 people. The good news is that former infected countries Nigeria and Senegal are now free of Ebola. Authorities in Mali encourage the population to remain calm and respect the basic hygiene measures.
Update: Sadly, the 2 year old girl who was being treated in Mali has become the first Ebola victim in the country. Sources found out that both her parents had been infected with Ebola prior to their death. Authorities in Mali are waiting to see if the people who came in contact with the baby show symptoms of Ebola in the following 21 days.