Just as the U.S. became Ebola-free, Mali confirmed its second case of the virus on Tuesday. A nurse in the country died of the disease she contracted while treating a Guinean man with Ebola-like symptoms at a local clinic in the capital, Bamako. “The man, whose body was returned to Guinea, was not tested for Ebola while he was being treated at the clinic,” local health officials told Reuters. The World Health Organization says the second case is unrelated to the 2-year-old girl who died from the disease last month.
“The W.H.O. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have known for at least 24 hours that a new cluster of possible Ebola cases existed in Mali, but did not announce it because they were waiting for laboratory confirmation of at least one case,” according to the New York Times. The infection comes just as the country appeared to be winning its battle against the virus. “It [had] not recorded any cases since then and 108 people linked to the girl were due to complete their 21-day quarantine period [next] Tuesday,” according to Reuters.
The clinic where the nurse treated the man suspected of having Ebola—the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako—is now under quarantine, according to officials.
