Ebola crisis: Dozens monitored after first Mali case

Health workers have been checking people coming into Mali from Guinea

Dozens of people are being monitored in Mali after the country confirmed its first case of Ebola.

The patient is a two-year-old girl who recently arrived from Guinea, which along with Liberia and Sierra Leone has seen most of the 4,800 deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was sending more experts to Mali to help contain the outbreak.
It has also announced that hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses should be available in the first half of 2015.
WHO Assistant Director Dr Marie-Paule Kieny told a news conference in Geneva that pharmaceutical companies were "committed to ramping up production".
Separately, a New York doctor who recently returned from Guinea has tested positive for the disease.
In other developments:

• An international team of scientists has been set up to determine the effectiveness of using the blood of Ebola survivors as a treatment. It is hoped the antibodies used by the immune system to fight Ebola can be transferred from a survivor to a patient
• European Union leaders agreed to increase their financial help on fighting Ebola in West Africa from some 600 million euros ($758m; £743m) to one billion

WHO reinforcements With the latest case, Mali becomes the sixth West African country to be affected by the outbreak, although Senegal and Nigeria have since been declared virus-free by the WHO.
Malian authorities have now quarantined and are monitoring 43 people who have been in contact with the infected girl. They include 10 health workers.
The girl is being treated in the western town of Kayes. A statement from Mali's health ministry said her condition was improving considerably, thanks to good treatment.
She was brought to a local hospital on Wednesday and her blood sample was Ebola-positive, Malian Health Minister Ousmane Kone said.

At the scene: Alou Diawara, BBC Afrique, Bamako

People are afraid in Mali's capital, Bamako, but life is carrying on as normal. A few people have stopped shaking hands but physically greeting people is an important part of life in Mali and for most this has not changed.
Some hotels have placed bottles of anti-bacterial gels at their entrances but for ordinary Malians, gel remains too expensive. The government has been running public information broadcasts telling people to wash their hands with soap. But though soap is not expensive, most still wash their hands with water alone.
Many Malians have friends and family in Guinea and several buses and taxis travel between the two countries each day.
With the support of the WHO, Mali's health system has been preparing for an outbreak of Ebola for several months. But there is a culture here of visiting people when they are sick to wish them a speedy recovery.
This will have to change if Ebola becomes more widespread.