Ebola patient in Mali may have infected many others, WHO fears

A toddler who introduced the Ebola virus to Mali may have infected others on public transit during her journey back to her home, the World Health Organization says.

Thegirl, 2, travelled from neighbouring Guinea with her grandmother.

• LIVE CHAT REPLAY | Ebola facts: The truth about the virus
• Ebola symptoms: What are they?
• Ebola outbreak: How prepared are Canadian hospitals?
• Ebola myths: 5 assumptions that aren't true

The World Health Organization said Friday that it is treating the situation in Mali as an emergency.

When the girl was admitted to hospital on Tuesday, she had a fever of 39 C, a cough, bleeding from the nose and blood in the stools. Test results were negative for malaria but positive for typhoid fever, the UN health agency said. Further testing confirmed Ebola virus as the cause of illness yesterday.

"Initial investigation of this case the first confirmed in Mali has revealed the extensive travel history of the child and her grandmother. The grandmother travelled from her home in Mali to attend a funeral in the town of Kissidougou, in southern Guinea.

WHO is seeking confirmation of media reports that the funeral was for the child's mother, who is said to have shown Ebola-like symptoms before her death. These and other facts will be communicated as they are confirmed."

The child showed symptoms during her a bus journey in Mali, which WHO called "especially concerning, as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures including high-risk exposures involving many people."

So far, investigators have identified 43 close and unprotected contacts, including 10 health-care workers, who are being monitored in isolation.

Mali becomes the sixth West African country to report an Ebola case. The majority of cases and deaths have been in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Senegal and Nigeria have had imported cases of Ebola. Both have since been declared Ebola-free.

The World Health Organization says the disease has killed at least 4,877 people and infected 9,936, but the actual number of cases is believed to be higher.