New AURAK research calls for wider awareness of Enteroviruses in Arabian Gulf
The research investigated the characteristics of enterovirus and the mechanisms by which this virus infection leads to disease. In addition, it presented major diagnostic tools employed in enterovirus detection.
Enterovirus and rhinovirus, also known as the common cold virus, belong to the same family of viruses that are a major cause of respiratory infections, particularly in children. The number of reported cases of enterovirus varies annually across Arabian Gulf countries. However, the reported cases demonstrate that enteroviral infections are highly common in children with serious illnesses such as brain inflammation or meningitis.
Prof. Stephen Wilhite, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Success and Provost at AURAK, said: 'Enteroviruses are known in this region to triggering major illnesses, but not much research has been done in this field. I complement AURAK researchers for venturing into this critical area and providing pointers to health authorities on how to combat these viruses that have the potential to develop into a major health concern.'
The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Viruses, a publication that serves as an advanced forum for studies of viruses. Two AURAK biotechnology students, Mohammed Ayyub and Joshua George Thomas, co-authored the study, supervised by Dr. Rawad Hodeify, Associate Professor of Medical Biotechnology and Department Chair at AURAK.
Dr. Rawad Hodeify, Associate Professor – Medical Biotechnology, said: 'Our study demonstrates that enterovirus infections in the Arabian Gulf countries have been associated with a wide array of diseases, ranging from mild symptoms to severe and life-threatening conditions, especially in infants and children. Reported cases demonstrate epidemic potential of the virus. We hope our insights are helpful to policymakers, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders in Arabian Gulf states working to battle viral infections.'
According to Dr. Hodeify, in the presence of a normal immune system, most enterovirus infections are associated with mild or no symptoms. Some children can develop more serious symptoms such as difficulty breathing, inflammation of eyes, and gastrointestinal complications such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and mouth sores a rash on the hands and feet. In advanced stages, infection with enterovirus can cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord tissue leading to permanent damage in the brain and nerves which can lead to paralysis or death.
As enterovirus infections being asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, these diseases may be unnoticed till more serious symptoms develop. The study provides an overview of various sensitive detection methods that can be used to ensure accurate identification of the virus.
Based on the findings, the AURAK study provides several recommendations. First, communities, schools, and nurseries, should be educated on the signs, symptoms, and prevention of enteroviral infections. Second, policymakers, public health organizations, and governments should invest in additional infrastructure and real-time surveillance to identify and respond to viral outbreaks more quickly. Third, funding agencies and governments should increase funding for research at all levels including basic and translational research and vaccine development. Fourth, hospitals and testing centers should invest in sensitive, rapid diagnostic tools to detect enteroviruses early and accurately. Finally, healthcare facilities and public health organizations should implement better data sharing systems to identify and control outbreaks, monitor disease trends, and save lives.
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The National
4 days ago
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Settlers in ancient Abu Dhabi forced to abandon island home due to climate change, archaeologists reveal
Excavations on an Abu Dhabi island have revealed that Neolithic people were forced to abandon a cluster of stone buildings when the environment turned arid more than 8,000 years ago – only for the site to be reoccupied centuries later to support fishing activities. The work on Ghagha Island off the far west coast of the UAE also revealed unexpected cultural links between the emirate's Neolithic island communities. Dr Kevin Lidour, a research archaeologist in the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT), said that when the site was discovered as a mound in November 2023, expectations of what it might contain were not high. 'At that time the site was not expected to be really substantial; it was just a low mound visible on the landscape of the island. Obviously human made,' Dr Lidour said. 'We were not expecting necessarily to have a very ancient site at the beginning.' 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The people who created the stone buildings at GHG0088 and lived there first were a fishing community with a sedentary lifestyle and there is evidence of wider domestic activity on the site. Possibly only a single family lived at the site. Winds of change Early in the Neolithic, about 8,200 years ago, a severe cooling episode in the Northern Hemisphere caused various changes to weather patterns and ecosystems in other areas, including on Ghagha Island. Strong winds brought large amounts of sand into the stone structure, Dr Lidour said, there was less rainfall, and fewer plants and animals were available to eat. One of the study's authors, Dr Remy Crassard, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), said that the changes were reflected in the archaeological record, with thick sand deposits separating the two Neolithic phases of occupation, possibly indicating desertification. 'It's likely that changing coastal conditions – perhaps a drop in sea level or the desiccation of nearby lagoons – made the site temporarily uninhabitable,' he said. 'The abandonment lasted roughly 300 to 400 years. When people returned, the environment had shifted, and so had their way of life.' Beginning at around 5800 BC to 5400 BC, the second phase of occupation involved people living on top of a sand and stone mound formed from the collapse of the previous buildings, some stones from which were used to consolidate the mound. The people did not build stone walls, but probably used a mix of stone and plant fibres to create structures resembling the barasti or arish-style palm frond constructions traditional to the Gulf region. Communities from the same period on Marawah Island built more elaborate structures. During this second phase of occupation, communities lived from fishing, Dr Lidour said, with the site seemingly used as a 'logistic' station to support this. 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Shells were collected from the shore and knapped – struck so that a piece breaks off to leave a sharp edge – and used for purposes such as cleaning animal skins, cutting plant fibres and preparing fish, which had probably been speared in shallow waters around the island. The artefacts on Ghagha Island from the second occupation have similarities to those from Marawah Island from the same time, Dr Lidour said, so by the sixth millennium BC 'a unified regional Neolithic culture' had emerged locally. As well as shells, stone arrowheads were discovered. In the 15th century, about 7,000 years after the second phase of occupation of GHG0088 ended, a third phase began during what is termed the Middle Islamic period. This probably involved another fishing community and was probably 'very brief', similar to the second phase of occupation, Dr Lidour said. 'A community of fishermen appears to have reoccupied the site and its surroundings,' he added. 'We have scatters of shells and Islamic pottery all across the coastal plateau. It was likely a single or multi-event, [possibly] seasonal occupation, focused on fishing and collecting sea snails.' These people may have been the ancestors of traditional tribes of the coastal Al Dhafra region, which forms the western part of Abu Dhabi emirate. There were probably, Dr Lidour said, only several visits over a few years during the 15th century. With excavation work at GHG0088 concluded, the site has been 'backfilled' to protect it, said another of the paper's authors, Noura Hamad Al Hameli, head of DCT's archaeological research unit for Al Dhafra and Abu Dhabi. Archaeologists have excavated another Ghagha Island site, GHG0063, which although it did not have stone buildings, contained artefacts similar to those found elsewhere on the island. Details of this site are set to be revealed soon. 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'Both sites point to year-round habitation by fishing communities who used stone and shell tools but also produced plaster vessels – a distinctive cultural feature of Abu Dhabi's Neolithic period,' Dr Lidour said. What makes the more recently excavated GHG0088 site particularly noteworthy, Dr Lidour said, is a human grave located within a smaller chamber. This mirrors burial practices on Marawah Island, which lies further east off the Abu Dhabi coast, indicating cultural continuity between Abu Dhabi's islands during the Neolithic period. The newly revealed site on Ghagha Island showed evidence of several phases of occupation, something not seen at other locations, allowing archaeologists to build up a detailed picture of how Neolithic life evolved. Also known as the New Stone Age, the Neolithic lasted from about 6500 BC to 3300 BC in the UAE and surrounding areas and, in other locations, saw the development of farming and herding as a settled lifestyle developed. The people who created the stone buildings at GHG0088 and lived there first were a fishing community with a sedentary lifestyle and there is evidence of wider domestic activity on the site. Possibly only a single family lived at the site. Winds of change Early in the Neolithic, about 8,200 years ago, a severe cooling episode in the Northern Hemisphere caused various changes to weather patterns and ecosystems in other areas, including on Ghagha Island. Strong winds brought large amounts of sand into the stone structure, Dr Lidour said, there was less rainfall, and fewer plants and animals were available to eat. One of the study's authors, Dr Remy Crassard, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), said that the changes were reflected in the archaeological record, with thick sand deposits separating the two Neolithic phases of occupation, possibly indicating desertification. 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Shells were collected from the shore and knapped – struck so that a piece breaks off to leave a sharp edge – and used for purposes such as cleaning animal skins, cutting plant fibres and preparing fish, which had probably been speared in shallow waters around the island. The artefacts on Ghagha Island from the second occupation have similarities to those from Marawah Island from the same time, Dr Lidour said, so by the sixth millennium BC 'a unified regional Neolithic culture' had emerged locally. As well as shells, stone arrowheads were discovered. In the 15th century, about 7,000 years after the second phase of occupation of GHG0088 ended, a third phase began during what is termed the Middle Islamic period. This probably involved another fishing community and was probably 'very brief', similar to the second phase of occupation, Dr Lidour said. 'A community of fishermen appears to have reoccupied the site and its surroundings,' he added. 'We have scatters of shells and Islamic pottery all across the coastal plateau. It was likely a single or multi-event, [possibly] seasonal occupation, focused on fishing and collecting sea snails.' These people may have been the ancestors of traditional tribes of the coastal Al Dhafra region, which forms the western part of Abu Dhabi emirate. There were probably, Dr Lidour said, only several visits over a few years during the 15th century. With excavation work at GHG0088 concluded, the site has been 'backfilled' to protect it, said another of the paper's authors, Noura Hamad Al Hameli, head of DCT's archaeological research unit for Al Dhafra and Abu Dhabi. Archaeologists have excavated another Ghagha Island site, GHG0063, which although it did not have stone buildings, contained artefacts similar to those found elsewhere on the island. Details of this site are set to be revealed soon. The latest results add to previously discovered archaeological finds in Abu Dhabi emirate, including 300,000-year-old stone tools from the Jebel Hafit area, an ancient monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island, a 3,000-year-old falaj irrigation system in Al Ain and, from about the same time and also in Al Ain, a fortress.
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