World Health Organisation (WHO) officials announced Wednesday that a second Ebola outbreak has erupted in Mali.
The West African nation recently contained its first outbreak, but a "real failure" at the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako has led to new deaths, sickness, and quarantines, The New York Times reports.
On October 17, an imam in Guinea became ill, and traveled to Mali for treatment. He died of kidney failure at the Pasteur Clinic on October 27, and although the condition is a possible complication of Ebola infection, doctors failed to diagnose the disease.
The imam's body was washed at a large mosque in Mali, and his funeral was at another mosque. The body was then sent to Guinea for burial.
Ebola infection was not suspected until a nurse at the Pasteur Clinic died, and WHO official Dr Ibrahima Soce Fall received news that the imam's family members in Guinea were dying.
"It was a real failure by the clinic," Dr Fall told the New York Times.
At least four of the imam's family members have died, including his wife and daughter. His brother, another wife, and a son are sick, and in Ebola treatment centres. One of the Pasteur Clinic physicians also has the Ebola virus, and a friend who visited the imam in the clinic has died of unknown causes.
The clinic, mosque, and other locations in Mali where the imam was taken have been quarantined, as have 28 Pasteur Clinic employees and 50 people who came in contact with the deceased nurse.
Contact tracing is difficult because it is unclear how many people touched the imam's body at the large mosque.
"We're still working on the contact tracing," Dr Fall admitted.
Mali's first Ebola outbreak began on October 24 when a two-year-old girl died in Kayes, but the virus' spread was quickly contained.
As of November 5, about 5,000 people have died from the Ebola outbreak that began in West Africa this spring. There have been over 13,000 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola infection this year.
