The first case in the new outbreak was a 70-year-old religious figure, a grand imam, who fell ill in Guinea and traveled to Mali for better treatment at a major private clinic in Bamako, Mali’s capital.

He died there on Oct. 27, and because of his importance, his body was washed at a large Bamako mosque before being returned to Guinea for burial.

But the Pasteur Clinic, where he was treated, failed to diagnose Ebola as the underlying cause of the kidney failure it was treating him for. According to a World Health Organization description of the case, numerous tests were performed, but not one for Ebola.

It was only realized how infectious he was after a nurse at the clinic fell ill and died, and when the chief W.H.O. representative in Mali heard from his counterparts in Guinea that the imam’s family members were dying.

“It was a real failure by the clinic,” said Dr. Ibrahima Soce Fall, the W.H.O. Mali team leader, in a telephone interview.

via Mali Reports a Second, Larger Ebola Outbreak – NYTimes.com.