Mali, New York record first Ebola cases

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has crossed more borders, finding its way to New York and Mali, another West African country bordered by Ebola-stricken Guinea and Senegal.

Craig Spencer, a healthcare worker who worked on Ebola in Guinea but recently travelled to the United States, tested positive to the deadly virus on Thursday.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has since sent a team to New York to assist the city official in combating the deadly virus, as further tests are carried out to confirm Spencer’s status.

Since Spencer’s arrival at New York on October 17, he has been to various parts of the city, which may make contact tracing very difficult.

However, Morgan Dixon, his fiancée, and two other friends, have been quarantined.

While addressing a press conference, Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, tried to pacify members of the city, admitting that Ebola could create panic but saying that it is not an airborne illness and can only be contracted by contact with the extremely ill.

In Mali, a two-year-old girl was been diagnosed at an hospital in Kayes, a city west of the capital city, Bamako, as the country’s first Ebola case.

The girl who had earlier lost her father to the viral disease was brought into the country form neighbouring Guinea, the World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman, Yvette Bivigou, confirmed.

Ousmane Kone, Mali’s minister for public health, has requested that the residents of Kayes stay calm and observe necessary hygiene methods.

At least 4,877 people have died in the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola, with six nations in West Africa already affected as the WHO hints the virus may be on its way to Ivory Coast.