Mali has two more Ebola deaths unrelated to the first imported case. Washington Post

Health workers in Mali. Washington Post/AP

The African country of Mali is reporting two more deaths due to Ebola unrelated to their first case earlier this year. -Washington Post. The two new cases involved a patient who had traveled from the Ebola ravaged country of Guinea and the nurse who treated him or her. Very little else is being released about these people other then the nurse was 25 and the patient was around 50 years of age. The new cases come on the heels of the earlier case, a two year old who also came from Guinea and died from the virus. Contact tracing for that case has been done and out of 108 contacts, 25 have completed the 21 day incubation period and have been released. The process of contact tracing and isolation will have to begin again with the new cases.

My Comment:

There is bad news here and good news. The bad news is that people died, of course, and the fact a second index patient has arrived in Mali. This means people will have to start the whole process of contact tracing again. There wasn't much info about who the index patient was and what he or she did before he or she sought treatment. The good news is that there were only two deaths and, as far as we know, only two new cases total. It is possible that Mali has more cases and isn't saying anything, but that seems unlikely. If they aren't then it is only two people's worth of contacts to trace. That's much easier to contain.

Ebola has fallen out of the news somewhat lately. Part of that is that the feared outbreak in America tapered out. Everyone who has been treated here, except Thomas Duncan, has survived and there are currently no Ebola cases in the United States. Liberia is also apparently having some success with the disease, though as I have mentioned before part of that might be due to the sick staying at home and not seeking treatment. That being said, the outbreak is still a major threat. If Mali isn't able to contain this second imported outbreak, or the first one for that matter since there are still people in the incubation period, then things will be bad. We are having enough problems trying to contain the disease in three countries, four might be too much to handle. Hopefully this outbreak is contained and Mali gets no new imported cases.