Just days after announcing that their country will soon be declared Ebola free, Mali announced two more deaths and quarantined dozens to prevent further outbreak of the deadly disease.
According to Reuters, Mali confirmed that a 25-year-old nurse died of Ebola on Tuesday after treating an imam from Guinea, who allegedly broke out in "Ebola-like" symptoms on Oct. 27 in Mali's capital, Bamako.
The nurse, who was identified by The Daily Mail as Saliou Diarra, contracted the disease when the 70-year-old imam was brought to Pasteur Clinic, one of the top medical centers in Bamako.
The unnamed religious figure reportedly died of kidney failure, but the clinic failed to diagnose Ebola as the underlying cause of the imam's death.
When the imam was admitted to the Pasteur Clinic, doctors reportedly performed numerous tests, but no one suspected that he was an Ebola victim. It was only confirmed when the nurse died and after the World Health Organization (WHO) discovered that the imam's immediate family members also fell ill.
Health officials also announced that one friend who visited the imam in the clinic also died without being tested for the deadly virus, while one of the doctors who treated the imam is being monitored after showing Ebola-like symptoms.
The WHO expressed fear that mourners who visited the religious leader might have also contracted the virus because the imam's body was reportedly washed at a large mosque in Bamako. The imam was buried in his native country without following the standard precautionary measures against Ebola.
Health experts are still trying to trace people who had contacts with the imam and the nurse. At this point, around 90 people, including the nurse's colleagues and family members, are quarantined in Mali.
One Malian aid worker said that the second outbreak is a clear proof that the government failed to prepare for the possible outbreak of the disease, which has already killed more than 5,000 people worldwide.
"This case shows the lack of training of doctors in Bamako. This training should have been done six months ago," the aid worker told Reuters.
