Current Affairs
Sudanese Doctor Discovers New Syndrome (Zain Syndrome)
05 April, 2020
By: Rogia al-Shafee
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) – Sudanese Neonatologist at the Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mohammed Zain-alabdin, has recorded a world medical achievement by finding a gene in humans which causes multiple joint contractures and brain malformations in Newborns which prevents them from moving.
The finding was registered in Dr. Zain’s name in the Online Mandalian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) as “Zain Syndrome”, after being published in the reputable American genetic journal, Human Genetics, January 2020.
A closely related couple had come to the hospital for follow up on the condition of their child, who suffered from deformities of all limbs, preventing him from moving. The child had another brother who had the same symptoms, said the Hospital in a press release.
Dr. Zain and his medical team performed the necessary medical examinations, took blood samples for genetic studies at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH/RC) and researched in previous studies on this inherited gene, and it was found that it leads to the same pathological symptoms in experimental mice.
Dr. Zain explained that these are the first cases together with two other cases of closely related parents from the Sultanate of Oman, to be described in humans caused by this gene, and with the help of the medical team and genetic research lab, it was confirmed that there is a gene inherited from the husband and wife who are cousins.
He added that inbreeding may cause the birth of children with this disease in 25% of pregnancies, as it is a recessive genetic trait, which is undoubtedly a high percentage that makes conducting genetic tests a necessity for couples who have a close relationship.
Speaking to Sudanow from his office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Zain said while researching on hereditary diseases, he had always kept in mind the Prophet Mohamed’s advices to avoid marrying in the same family in order to have strong and healthy children by avoiding hereditary diseases.
He said by the completion of the Human Genome 2003, it was established that the human body has about 100000 inherited genes stationed in a human cells nucleus that could not be seen by the naked eye.
Dr. Zain paid tribute to his fellow team members and the administration in the Security Forces Hospital and the research team at (KFSH/RC) that made the achievement possible.
Dr. Zain was born in Binna Island in Northern Sudan in January 1950. He completed his primary and intermediate education in the town of Rahad in the mid-west (Kordofan) from where he joined the famous Khor Taqqat Secondary School. Then he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum (1976).
In 1985 he obtained the UK MRCP certificate and in 1994 he obtained the (FRCPCH) UK fellowship.
In UK he worked in Newcastle teaching hospitals up to 1986 after which he worked in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirate and then in Saudi Arabia since 1989. He has published over 60 researches on hereditary genetic diseases, published by prominent medical journals.
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