Latest news with #AhmedFahal
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Gleaming labs turned to rubble: scientists mourn the loss of decades of medical progress in Sudan
'All that I did over 40 years has turned to ashes before my eyes,' says Prof Ahmed Fahal, of the destruction of his research centre in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. His once-gleaming laboratory, where a team of white-coated expert clinicians once busied over their work, is now little more than rubble. 'I built everything from scratch. I knew every corner, every brick of the building. I can't describe the pain,' he says. As Sudan enters its third year of war, its infrastructure has been decimated and scientific, educational and research institutions have ground to a halt. According to the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences, more than 100 universities and research centres – among the most reputable in Africa – have been damaged or looted. Since 1991, Fahal has headed the Mycetoma Research Center (MRC): the only such institution in the world dedicated to the neglected tropical disease. The centre has been reduced to rubble, wiping out decades of vital data. When the Sudanese army regained control of Khartoum in March, Fahal's team was able to visit the centre for the first time since the outbreak of war and take stock. 'We lost everything: the biobank that contained rare fungus and bacteria; micro-organisms that we collected over 40 years; samples and biopsies that we stored for genetic research. 'We also lost the laboratory equipment, three ultrasound machines and the pharmacy, where we stored all the free medications for the patients,' says Fahal. The only thing to survive were the patients' files, which had been saved electronically. Since the MRC opened, Fahal and his team have treated about 12,000 patients. The first recorded case of mycetoma in the country was in 1904, and, of the 102 countries where the disease has been identified, Sudan has the highest number of documented cases. 'Sudan is the homeland of mycetoma,' says Fahal. Mycetoma is an inflammatory disease caused by fungi or bacteria and leading to tumour-like growths. Most commonly people become infected through contact with thorns of the acacia shrub, which can carry the fungus. The disease primarily affects farmers, herders and the impoverished who work barefoot. In Sudan, children make up approximately 20-25% of patients. Untreated mycetoma can cause severe deformities and permanent disability. In Sudan, about 70% of cases are caused by eumycetoma, a fungal form of the disease. Five days before the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in April 2023, Fahal returned to Sudan after spending several weeks in Switzerland and Japan presenting the results of a clinical trial on fosravuconazole – a new treatment to improve patients' quality of life. Two days later, he left for Egypt, from where he received news of the conflict and realised he could not go home. 'When the fighting intensified in the capital, the volunteer teams we had organised had to move south to Wad Madani, 190km away,' he says. There they resumed their work. However, the fighting followed them. 'They kept moving ,' Fahal says, 'but the war was on their heels again and destroyed everything the teams tried to build.' In December 2022, the MRC and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) had presented the results of its clinical trial on fosravuconazole to the National Medicine and Poisons Board, the pharmaceutical regulatory authority in Sudan. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion Dr Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, head of the global mycetoma programme for DNDi, says: 'The board found it adequate and provided authorisation for fosravuconazole to be used as a mycetoma treatment in Sudan, but then the conflict broke out. The result: itraconazole – the first-line drug – is not available in the country, and our programme to introduce fosravuconazole in Sudan in 2023 has been stopped.' The war has meant that more than 12,000 mycetoma patients treated by the clinic have not received medication, says Fahal. Without treatment, bacterial infections bloom easily, leading to sepsis, amputations and, ultimately, death. 'Many have died, but we don't have the figures,' he says. Researchers have warned that 'Sudan's already fragile health system is about to undergo a complete collapse after the war started.' The Health Science Reports paper said: 'The public health sector is chronically underfunded, and its financial losses are more than $700m [£500m], as its GDP went down by 1.4% [as] the funds have been mobilised for the military and defence.' The World Health Organization estimates that 70-80% of health facilities in conflict areas, including Al Jazirah, Kordofan, Darfur and Khartoum, are either closed or not fully operational. For Marmar A El Siddig, a professor of microbiology at the University of Khartoum, the war's impact is massive: 'Most of the scientific and medical research in the country was done through universities or institutions belonging to them, which were concentrated in the centre of Khartoum. Now, 95% of these facilities have been damaged or destroyed,' she says. Another concerning aspect, according to El Siddig, is the destruction of laboratories containing samples of viruses, bacteria, fungi or tissues: all potentially highly toxic materials. 'My microbial culture collection unit, where I stored more than 200 strains of salmonella used for scientific research, was destroyed. This poses a high risk of disease spread into the environment,' she says. The destruction of the Sudan Natural History Museum and the Institute of Endemic Diseases, where poisonous snakes and scorpions used to develop vaccines were kept, also poses a danger. Fahal, stuck in Cairo, has been unable to keep practising due to the lack of a work permit: 'During all this time, I've seen three patients: one in a cafe, one in an apartment and the last one in a public square. I examined them and connected them with my Egyptian colleagues. 'I used to see 200 patients a week – now I can't even see one.' But he still hopes to rebuild: 'My team has already started to assess the damage and I spend my days writing proposals for international donors to get funding. However, the main problem is that organisations are directing their funds to Gaza or Ukraine because, for them, mycetoma is not a priority.'
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
World's only research centre for flesh-eating infection ransacked in Sudan
The footage sent Dr Ahmed Fahal into shock. On the outskirts of Khartoum, his research centre had been completely ransacked – the reception burned, the laboratory stripped, and four decades of biobank samples destroyed. 'I'm not sure when it took place… but we discovered the damage two weeks ago,' he told the Telegraph from Cairo, where he fled when a brutal civil war broke out in Sudan in April 2023. '[When I saw the video], I was not able to start or to talk or to communicate with anybody. All this time I had believed the centre was safe – but now we found this. It's a really sad, sad story,' he said. Dr Fahal heads the Mycetoma Research Centre in Sudan, the world's only specialist facility treating and researching the flesh-eating infection. But it's become yet another victim of the country's conflict, in a 'major blow' for efforts to tackle the disease. 'I don't know how to describe the kind of set back it has provided,' said Dr Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, head of mycetoma at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). 'It's devastating.' The Mycetoma Research Centre after the ransacking Mycetoma, dubbed a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization (WHO), can be caused by roughly 70 different bacteria and fungi found in soil. These burrow into minor cuts and scrapes, most commonly among farmers and herdsmen who toil without shoes. The slow-moving infection then causes massive swelling, peppering patients with lesions and sores as it attacks their bodies. It can lead to disability, amputation and – in severe cases – death. Data remains patchy, but experts estimate that there are around 20,000 new cases every year. 'It affects the poorest of the poor in remote communities,' said Dr Fahal. 'Eventually mycetoma destroys their soft tissue, their bones, and can kill the patients. It eats their bones and ends their lives.' It is now 34 years since Dr Fahal, frustrated at the lack of treatment available for those affected, launched the Mycetoma Research Centre at the University of Khartoum with 'zero budget and minimum support'. Since then, the facility has grown to treat roughly 12,000 patients every year, and became a WHO collaborating centre in 2015. People travelled from as far away as Yemen to access free care at the facility – which broke the mould by closely following patients after treatment and offering vocational training for those who lost livelihoods due to mycetoma-related disabilities. The ransacked offices of Mycetoma Research Centre With around 50 Sudanese and international researchers, it has also become a critical research hub – only five months ago, it published the first randomised, double blind trial looking at new mycetoma drugs. But the civil war has wrought havoc on operations. When conflict broke out in April 2023, staff had to flee Khartoum, which was then at the epicentre of the war. They have been tracking patients through WhatsApp, and set up temporary operations in Wad Madani – before fleeing to Sanga and then Kassala as the conflict shifted and spread. But far fewer patients have been treated, while the next stage of various research projects were halted. All this time Dr Fahal and his team – unable to access Khartoum – were optimistic that the facility was still standing, and that they could resume research once the capital was recaptured, which took place in March. Instead, staff returning for the first time a fortnight ago found their facility completely ransacked, with the reception and laboratory burned, ceilings collapsed and high-tech equipment destroyed. In the long run, the biggest blow is the loss of 40 years of samples – a unique biobank unmatched anywhere in the world. 'It had very rare types of fungi and bacteria, some of them reported on for the first time – we had 700 fungi and 1,000 samples of bacteria, collected over 40 years… [as well as] a lot of DNA extracted from blood samples,' said Dr Fahal. 'So this is the saddest story because this is a very, very, very, valuable biological material for research.' Prof Trudie Lang, a professor of global health research at the University of Oxford and head of the Global Health Network, added: 'Sudan has brilliant scientists, doing incredibly important work and Dr Fahal's remarkable efforts in mycetoma is an exemplar of this. 'The research centre was doing vital work to tackling this disease and contributing unique evidence to the global research community… [I] hope Dr Fahal can get this back on track.' Dr Nyaoke-Anoke added that organisations should come together to help rebuild the centre, but warned the incident should also be a 'wake up call' for the global community not to rely on a single facility to research and treat any given disease. Two weeks after the initial shock, Dr Fahal is determined not to give up. 'We started in 1991 with zero budget,' he said. 'It is our job now to think how we can rebuild this centre and work together. Really, these patients need to be supported.' Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
World's only research centre for flesh-eating infection ransacked in Sudan
The footage sent Dr Ahmed Fahal into shock. On the outskirts of Khartoum, his research centre had been completely ransacked – the reception burned, the laboratory stripped, and four decades of biobank samples destroyed. 'I'm not sure when it took place… but we discovered the damage two weeks ago,' he told the Telegraph from Cairo, where he fled when a brutal civil war broke out in Sudan in April 2023. '[When I saw the video], I was not able to start or to talk or to communicate with anybody. All this time I had believed the centre was safe – but now we found this. It's a really sad, sad story,' he said. Dr Fahal heads the Mycetoma Research Centre in Sudan, the world's only specialist facility treating and researching the flesh-eating infection. But it's become yet another victim of the country's conflict, in a 'major blow' for efforts to tackle the disease. 'I don't know how to describe the kind of set back it has provided,' said Dr Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, head of mycetoma at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). 'It's devastating.'
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Sudan war destroys world's only research centre on skin disease mycetoma: director
Cairo: The world's only research centre on mycetoma, a neglected tropical disease common among farmers, has been destroyed in Sudan's two-year war, its director and another expert say. Mycetoma is caused by bacteria or fungus and usually enters the body through cuts. It is a progressively destructive infectious disease of the body tissue, affecting skin, muscle and even bone. It is often characterised by swollen feet, but can also cause barnacle-like growths and club-like hands. "The centre and all its infrastructure were destroyed during the war in Sudan," Ahmed Fahal, director of the Mycetoma Research Centre (MRC), told AFP. "We lost the entire contents of our biological banks, where there was data from more than 40 years," said Fahal, whose centre had treated thousands of patients from Sudan and other countries. "It's difficult to bear." Since April 15, 2023, Sudan's army has been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces throughout the northeast African country. The MRC is located in the Khartoum area, which the army last month reclaimed from the RSF during a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million. Sudan's health care system has been left at the "breaking point", according to the World Health Organization. Among the conflict's casualties is now the MRC, established in 1991 under the auspices of the University of Khartoum. It was a rare story of medical success in impoverished Sudan. A video provided by the global Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) shows collapsed ceilings, shelves overturned, fridges open and documents scattered about. AFP was not able to independently verify the MRC's current condition. The centre had grown to include 50 researchers and treat 12,000 patients each year, Fahal said. Mycetoma is listed as a neglected tropical disease by the WHO. The organisms that cause mycetoma also occur in Sudan's neighbours, including Chad and Ethiopia, as well as in other tropical and sub-tropical areas, among them Mexico and Thailand, WHO says. For herders, farmers and other workers depending on manual labour to survive, crippling mycetoma infections can be a life sentence. Drawing on the MRC's expertise, in 2019 the WHO and Sudan's government convened the First International Training Workshop on Mycetoma, in Khartoum. "Today, Sudan, which was at the forefront of awareness of mycetomas, has gone 100 percent backwards," said Dr. Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, DNDi's head of mycetoma.
NDTV
25-04-2025
- Health
- NDTV
World's Only Research Centre On Mycetoma Destroyed In Sudan War
Cairo: The world's only research centre on mycetoma, a neglected tropical disease common among farmers, has been destroyed in Sudan's two-year war, its director and another expert say. Mycetoma is caused by bacteria or fungus and usually enters the body through cuts. It is a progressively destructive infectious disease of the body tissue, affecting skin, muscle and even bone. It is often characterised by swollen feet, but can also cause barnacle-like growths and club-like hands. "The centre and all its infrastructure were destroyed during the war in Sudan," Ahmed Fahal, director of the Mycetoma Research Centre (MRC), told AFP. "We lost the entire contents of our biological banks, where there was data from more than 40 years," said Fahal, whose centre had treated thousands of patients from Sudan and other countries. "It's difficult to bear." Since April 15, 2023, Sudan's army has been at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces throughout the northeast African country. The MRC is located in the Khartoum area, which the army last month reclaimed from the RSF during a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million. Sudan's health care system has been left at the "breaking point", according to the World Health Organization. Among the conflict's casualties is now the MRC, established in 1991 under the auspices of the University of Khartoum. It was a rare story of medical success in impoverished Sudan. A video provided by the global Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) shows collapsed ceilings, shelves overturned, fridges open and documents scattered about. AFP was not able to independently verify the MRC's current condition. The centre had grown to include 50 researchers and treat 12,000 patients each year, Fahal said. Mycetoma is listed as a neglected tropical disease by the WHO. The organisms that cause mycetoma also occur in Sudan's neighbours, including Chad and Ethiopia, as well as in other tropical and sub-tropical areas, among them Mexico and Thailand, WHO says. For herders, farmers and other workers depending on manual labour to survive, crippling mycetoma infections can be a life sentence. Drawing on the MRC's expertise, in 2019 the WHO and Sudan's government convened the First International Training Workshop on Mycetoma, in Khartoum. "Today, Sudan, which was at the forefront of awareness of mycetomas, has gone 100 percent backwards," said Dr. Borna Nyaoke-Anoke, DNDi's head of mycetoma.
