Mob attacks Ebola treatment centre in Guinea as suspected cases reach Mali
MSF facility in Guinea forced to close after attackers blame it for deadly outbreak
An angry crowd attacked an Ebola treatment centre in Guinea, accusing its staff of bringing the deadly disease to the town, Medecins Sans Frontieres said, as Mali identified its first suspected cases.
More than 90 people have already died in Guinea and Liberia in what medical charity MSF, or Doctors without Borders, has warned could turn into an unprecedented epidemic in an impoverished region with poor health services.
The outbreak in Guinea is the first time the disease, epidemics of which occur regularly in Central Africa, has appeared in the country. Infected patients initially went undiagnosed for several weeks before tests confirmed Ebola.
News of the outbreak has sent shockwaves through communities with little knowledge of the disease or how it is transmitted, and the suspected cases in Mali have added to fears that it is spreading in West Africa.
MSF spokesman Sam Taylor said the attackers in Macenta, some 425km southeast of the capital Conakry, had accused staff of bringing the disease to the town.