Mali has reported that one of its citizens contracted the Ebola virus, the first case reported in the landlocked West African state.
Mali’s health ministry in the capital Bamako confirmed the case on Thursday.
A medical source revealed that the patient is a two-year old child, who tested positive for the virus after arriving from Guinea with her grandmother.
The same source said the patient comes from the city of Kai, about 400km southeast from Bamako, the capital.
Mali shares a border with Guinea, and is the only country which has not sealed its border with the Ebola-hit neighboring country.
As of October 19, there were 1,289 confirmed cases in Guinea, with a total of 904 deaths.
In total, 4,877 people have died of the disease and experts warned that the rate of infections could reach 10,000 a week by early December.
