As of November 12, 2014, the World Health Organization reported a cluster of three Ebola cases in Bamako, Mali. The cluster in Bamako is linked to a man who had been in a clinic in Bamako after becoming sick in Guinea. Since that time, a small number of Ebola cases linked to this patient have been reported in Bamako.

Liberia Ebola public service poster/CDC
Liberia Ebola public service poster/CDC

This does not count an unrelated death from Ebola that occurred in Kayes, Mali on October 24, 2014 in a 2-year-old Guinea child.

The cases of Ebola in Bamako, Mali, are related to an ongoing Ebola outbreak that has been occurring since March 2014 in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

This has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a travel alert to notify travelers that a few Ebola cases have been reported in Bamako, Mali, and to inform them of actions they can take to reduce their risk of getting the disease.

CDC recommends that travelers to Mali protect themselves by avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are sick, because of the possibility they may be sick with Ebola. Although a cluster of cases has been reported only in Bamako, travelers to all parts of Mali should be alert for reports of possible further spread within the country.

The federal health agency says Ebola is a rare and deadly disease. The disease is caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus species (Zaire, Sudan, Bundibugyo, or Tai Forest virus). It is spread by direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth) with

  • blood or body fluids (such as urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola,
  • objects (like needles and syringes) that have been contaminated with the virus, and
  • infected fruit bats or primates (apes and monkeys).

Signs of Ebola include fever and symptoms such as severe headache, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, or unexplained bleeding or bruising.

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