KAYES, Mali — A 2-year-old Malian girl who became infected in neighboring Guinea has become the first confirmed Ebola death in Mali, officials said Sunday.
After Fanta Kone’s father died in southern Guinea, the toddler’s grandmother took her from the forested hills where the Ebola outbreak first began months ago to bring her home to Mali. It wasn’t long, though, before the little girl started getting nosebleeds.
By the time the pair made their way back more than 600 miles to the town of Kayes several days later, the toddler had a high fever and was vomiting blood. Doctors swiftly diagnosed Fanta with Ebola, but she soon succumbed to the virus already blamed for killing nearly 5,000 people in the region.
Her grandmother, quarantined with a couple dozen others, could only watch from a distance in an isolation tent over the weekend as health workers in hazmat suits prepared the child for burial.
There has been wide fear in this town of 128,000 since news first spread of the girl’s death about 10 months after the outbreak in Guinea.
‘‘We are in a panic — everyone is talking about Ebola,’’ said Bruno Sodatonou, a 35-year-old restaurant worker in the town of 128,000. ‘‘We don’t know how to protect ourselves. Some are now wearing gloves, while others are trying to avoid handshakes with people.’’
Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, is visiting the three West African countries hit hardest by the Ebola outbreak. She arrived in the Conakry, the capital of Guinea, on Sunday.
Power will visit Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone ‘‘to draw attention to the need for increased support for the international response,’’ the US mission said Sunday. She will be a rare high-profile presence on the ground in a crisis that has struggled at times to attract donations and health workers.
The United Nations has repeatedly called for a greater international response to the worst-ever outbreak of the deadly disease. The UN mission to counter Ebola is the first time the world body has set up such an effort in response to a public health crisis.
Mali, which shares a land border with Guinea, has long been seen as vulnerable to Ebola because of the large number of people moving back and forth between the two countries. Fanta’s case has especially alarmed health authorities because she is believed to have been in a contagious state of Ebola as she traveled.
Dr. Koumare Toumani, director-general of the Kayes hospital, said the little girl and her grandmother were quickly isolated upon arrival. A dozen of Fanta’s family members are now being observed along with 11 health care workers, he said.