Mali records its second Ebola death

NURSE: FIRST CASE OF VIRUS SPREADING

Clinic quarantined after health worker dies at clinic.

Mali scrambled yesterday to contain an outbreak of Ebola as it confirmed the death of a nurse – its second fatal case, but the first of the virus spreading within the country’s borders.

Officials say the nurse died on Tuesday after treating a man who arrived from Guinea at a clinic in the capital Bamako.

The patient was suffering from kidney failure, medical sources said, and authorities now believe he also had Ebola, although this has not been confirmed.

The Bamako clinic is now in quarantine.

The case – the first Ebola death of a Malian national – has raised fears of further contamination as it was unrelated to Mali’s only other confirmed fatality: a two-yearold girl.

Almost 5 000 people have been killed by Ebola in the West African outbreak according to official data from the World Health Organisation ( WHO). The virus kills about 70% of its victims, causing unstoppable bleeding.

The new case in Mali came a day after the WHO said it had released from isolation 25 of more than 100 people thought to have come into contact with the country’s first victim. – AFP