Dozens of people are being monitored in Mali after the country confirmed its first case of Ebola.
The patient is a two-year-old girl who recently arrived from Guinea, which along with Liberia and Sierra Leone has seen most of the 4,800 deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was sending more experts to Mali to help contain the outbreak.
Separately, a New York doctor who recently returned from Guinea has tested positive for the disease.
In other developments:
- An international team of scientists has been set up to determine the effectiveness of using the blood of Ebola survivors as a treatment. It is hoped the antibodies used by the immune system to fight Ebola can be transferred from a survivor to a patient
- European Union leaders agreed to increase their financial help on fighting Ebola in West Africa from some 600 million euros ($758m; £743m) to one billion
With the latest case, Mali becomes the sixth West African country to be affected by the outbreak, although Senegal and Nigeria have since been declared virus-free by the WHO.
Malian authorities have now quarantined and are monitoring 43 people who have been in contact with the infected girl. They include 10 health workers.
The girl is being treated in the western town of Kayes.
She was brought to a local hospital on Wednesday and her blood sample was Ebola-positive, Malian Health Minister Ousmane Kone said.
At the scene: Alou Diawara, BBC Afrique, Bamako
People are afraid in Mali's capital, Bamako, but life is carrying on as normal. A few people have stopped shaking hands but physically greeting people is an important part of life in Mali and for most this has not changed.
Some hotels have placed bottles of anti-bacterial gels at their entrances but for ordinary Malians, gel remains too expensive. The government has been running public information broadcasts telling people to wash their hands with soap. But though soap is not expensive, most still wash their hands with water alone.
Many Malians have friends and family in Guinea and several buses and taxis travel between the two countries each day.
With the support of the WHO, Mali's health system has been preparing for an outbreak of Ebola for several months and Nigeria and Senegal have shown how to contain Ebola. But there is a culture here of visiting people when they are sick to wish them a speedy recovery.
This will have to change if Ebola becomes more widespread but Mali is quite a conservative society, where customs and habits only change slowly.
- Avoid direct contact with sick patients as the virus is spread through contaminated body fluids
- Wear protective cover for eyes
- Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated
- People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months
The WHO has three experts in Mali evaluating its ability to cope with Ebola and will send at least four more over the next few days, spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said.
The girl's mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was then brought by relatives to Mali.
With porous borders, countries neighbouring Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are on high alert for possible imported cases of the virus, says BBC Africa health correspondent Anne Soy.
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The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse travels with an ambulance worker in Liberia
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Anne Soy reports on the case from the UN crisis hub in Ghana
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The current outbreak is the deadliest since Ebola was discovered in 1976
In New York, Dr Craig Spencer, who treated Ebola patients while working for the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), came down with a fever on Thursday, days after his return, officials say.
He is the first Ebola case diagnosed in New York, and the fourth in the US.
Dr Spencer, 33, left Guinea on 14 October, and returned to New York City on 17 October via Europe. On Tuesday he began to feel tired and developed a fever and diarrhoea on Thursday.
He immediately contacted medical services and was taken to the city's Bellevue Hospital.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said there was "no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed".
"Ebola is an extremely hard disease to contract. New Yorkers who have not been exposed to an infected person's bodily fluids are not at risk," he said.
Ebola patients are only infectious if they have symptoms, and the disease is only transmittable through bodily fluids, experts say.
Ebola virus disease (EVD)
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How Ebola survivors' blood is saving lives
- Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
- Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
- Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
- Incubation period is two to 21 days
- There is no proven vaccine or cure
- Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
- Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host
Ebola virus: Busting the myths
Are you in New York and have you been affected by the issues raised in this article? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
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