Girl dies of Ebola in Mali's first case: Government source

The girl had recently returned to Mali from neighbouring Guinea, one of the countries most affected by the epidemic

A two-year-old girl has died of Ebola in Mali, in the first case of the disease in the west African nation.

"Unfortunately she died between 4:00 p.m and 5:00 p.m," a source in the prime minister's office told AFP yesterday, adding that the girl's death had been confirmed by the governor of the western region of Kayes.

The girl had recently returned to Mali from neighbouring Guinea, one of the countries most affected by an epidemic that has killed nearly 4,900 people.

She was diagnosed after she arrived at a hospital in the western town of Kayes on Wednesday. Both, the child and those she had come in contact with were put in isolation.

 

Health ministry spokesman Markatche Daou told AFP, yesterday that the girl had travelled to neighbouring Guinea with her grandmother and that the authorities were aware of her itinerary.