A. Babiker - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by A. Babiker

Frontiers in Pediatrics

Meningitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord meninges caused by infectious and non-... more Meningitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord meninges caused by infectious and non-infectious agents. Infectious agents causing meningitis include viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Viral meningitis (VM), also termed aseptic meningitis, is caused by some viruses, such as enteroviruses (EVs), herpesviruses, influenza viruses, and arboviruses. However, EVs represent the primary cause of VM. The clinical symptoms of this neurological disorder may rapidly be observed after the onset of the disease, or take prolonged time to develop. The primary clinical manifestations of VM include common flu-like symptoms of headache, photophobia, fever, nuchal rigidity, myalgia, and fatigue. The severity of these symptoms depends on the patient's age; they are more severe among infants and children. The course of infection of VM varies between asymptomatic, mild, critically ill, and fatal disease. Morbidities and mortalities of VM are dependent on the early recognition and treatment of th...

Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 2019

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Saudi Medical Journal, Dec 1, 2022

Objectives: To evaluate the demographics, clinical presentation, laboratory data, chest radiograp... more Objectives: To evaluate the demographics, clinical presentation, laboratory data, chest radiographs, and outcomes of pediatric patients with critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: This retrospective study included 34 children who were diagnosed with severe COVID-19 pneumonia between August 2020 and July 2021. Severe pneumonia was defined as fever, respiratory distress (tachypnea, chest retractions, and hypoxia [oxygen saturation <90% in room air]), and obvious infiltrations on chest radiography. Results: Ages of the patients ranged from newborns to 12 years old, with a median of 24 months (interquartile range: 12-72 months). Preschool-aged children were the most common age group (44%). Levels of inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, ferritin, and procalcitonin) were elevated in most patients. A total of 13 patients developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), while 4 developed multiorgan failure. Despite receiving supportive therapy, 2 (5.9%) patients died due to severe septic shock and multiorgan failure. One deceased patient was born prematurely at 30 weeks, while the other had chronic granulomatous disease. Conclusion: This study described a single-center cohort of pediatric patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. In this cohort, children with cardiopulmonary comorbidities and ARDS had a high mortality and long-term morbidity, as observed in other pediatric studies.

Journal of Cell and Animal Biology, May 31, 2008

In the frame work of the Pan African Control of Epizootics (PACE) Program, a cross-sectional sero... more In the frame work of the Pan African Control of Epizootics (PACE) Program, a cross-sectional serological survey for rinderpest (RP) was conducted among non-vaccinated cattle in Unity State, Sudan. A total of 280 serum samples were collected from cattle of different ages and both sexes in eight sites between June and December 2004. These sera were tested for antibodies against rinderpest virus (RPV) using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA). Only. % of the sera were positive to the RPV antibodies in the different locations of the state. An obvious and significant (p<0.05) variation in the prevalence of antibodies to the virus among various locations was noted. A significantly (p < < < <0.01) higher levels of prevalence rates were observed in the age group of 5 to 10 years of cattle compared to other age groups. The results also indicated the prevalence of antibodies to the virus in females is always higher than in the male animals (p<0.05). Our data demonstrated the situation of RP in the unity state, the only locus known to harbor the disease in the country at large. This helped by designing a strategic eradication plan leading to declare Sudan as a RP free country in 2005.

World Journal of Pediatrics, 2021

Background It had been documented in many studies that pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-... more Background It had been documented in many studies that pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is characterized by low infectivity rates, low mortalities, and benign disease course. On the other hand, influenza type A viruses are recognized to cause severe and fatal infections in children populations worldwide. This study is aimed to compare the clinical and laboratory characteristics of COVID-19 and H1N1 influenza infections. Methods A retrospective study comprising 107 children hospitalized at Abha Maternity and Children Hospital, Southern region of Saudi Arabia, with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and H1N1 influenza infections was carried out. A complete follow-up for all patients from the hospital admission until discharge or death was made. The clinical data and laboratory parameters for these patients were collected from the medical records of the hospital. Results Out of the total enrolled patients, 73 (68.2%) were diagnosed with COVID-19, and 34 (31.8%) were diagnosed w...

Four Peste des Petits Ruminants virus (PPRV) Isolates were collected from clinical cases of three... more Four Peste des Petits Ruminants virus (PPRV) Isolates were collected from clinical cases of three goats and one sheep from Khartoum State; Soba/Khartoum State and Bashaier/River Nile State. These PPR viruses were isolated in Lamb kidney cells (LKC) and Lamb testis cells (LTC) and identified by Agar Gel Precipitation Test (AGPT) and Hemagglutinition (HA) tests. Four PPRV isolates were used for experimental infection in four groups (n = 4) of Sudanese goats. Goats of group A and B were inoculated with the 4th passage of two Sudanese PPRV cultured in lamb testis cells, 6 ◊ 10 TCID /ml of Bashaier and 6 ◊ 10 TCID /ml of Soba isolates, isolated from sheep and goat respectively. Whereas, group C and D were received 6ml of the fifth passaged 20% infected tissue suspensions of Khartoum and Soba PPR isolates propagated in goats. The inoculated goats showed typical PPR clinical signs, gross lesions and histopathological changes while control animals (group E) appeared healthy. Two goats from ...

International Journal of General Medicine, 2021

Background: COVID-19 was reported in several studies characterized by milder clinical course, ben... more Background: COVID-19 was reported in several studies characterized by milder clinical course, benign disease, and peculiar epidemiologic patterns among pediatric patients compared to adults' disease. However, other studies indicated that critical cases also exist and are associated with preexisting cardiopulmonary comorbidities and concurrent multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Methods: The study period was six months, May-October 2020. Data on demographics, clinical manifestations, laboratory abnormalities were extracted from the patients' hospital records. During the study period, 644 pediatric patients attended the hospital. They were all screened for SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR. Only the confirmed positive patients were included in the subsequent study analysis. They were hospitalized either in the general pediatric wards (GPW) or pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Results: Out of the total patients screened, 79 (12.3%) children were confirmed to have COVID-19 infection. All the confirmed COVID-19 patients were either admitted to the general pediatric wards (58; 73.4%) or PICU (21; 26.6%). The admission diagnoses for these children were acute gastroenteritis (22.85%), acute pneumonia (19%), clinical sepsis (17.7%), and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (10.1%). A significantly higher percentage of the PICU admitted patients showed shortness of breath (SOB) (P= 0.016). Respiratory insufficiencies, prematurity, and congenital heart diseases are the most reported comorbid conditions among the admitted children. The oxygen saturation was significantly lower among PICU patients than those in GPW (P=0.001). The total hospital stays differ significantly between the two groups, which were ten days for the PICU group compared to 4.5 days for the GPW group with a statistical significance noted (P= 0.001). Conclusion: Despite the observable variations in the clinical and laboratory findings among the hospitalized pediatric COVID-19 patients, no serious consequences among all patients were observed. The history of SOB and the initial oxygen saturation level were significantly associated with PICU admissions.

Frontiers in Pediatrics, 2020

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, which is caused by the novel coronavirus named severe acute res... more The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, which is caused by the novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), constituted significant public health concerns and impacted the human populations with massive economic and social burdens worldwide. The disease is known to infect people of all ages, including children, adults, and the elderly. Although several reports about pediatric COVID-19 were seen in the literature, we believe that the epidemiology and pathology of the infection described in these reports are not conclusive. Therefore, in this scientific communication, a narrative review study was performed to shed some light on the characteristic epidemiological features and clinical phenotypes of pediatric COVID-19. In this report, we had compiled and presented the different epidemiological features of the disease related to the age of infection, virus acquisition, explanations of the low infectivity rates, and consequences of infections. The discri...

International Journal of Poultry Science, 2004

The Open Virology Journal, 2015

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is classified as a member in the orderherpesvirales, familyherpesviridae... more Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is classified as a member in the orderherpesvirales, familyherpesviridae, subfamilygammaherpesvirinaeand the genuslymphocytovirus. The virus is an exclusively human pathogen and thus also termed as human herpesvirus 4 (HHV4). It was the first oncogenic virus recognized and has been incriminated in the causation of tumors of both lymphatic and epithelial nature. It was reported in some previous studies that 95% of the population worldwide are serologically positive to the virus. Clinically, EBV primary infection is almost silent, persisting as a life-long asymptomatic latent infection in B cells although it may be responsible for a transient clinical syndrome called infectious mononucleosis. Following reactivation of the virus from latency due to immunocompromised status, EBV was found to be associated with several tumors. EBV linked to oncogenesis as detected in lymphoid tumors such as Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin's disease (HD), post-transplant ...

Medicine, 2021

Most of the reports about severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in childre... more Most of the reports about severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children reported mild-to-moderate disease manifestations. However, recent reports explored a rare pediatric multisystem syndrome possibly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection termed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). The study prospectively enrolled 5 patients with clinical and laboratory evidence of MIS-C associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. They were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Their clinical presentation, laboratory, and outcome were described. All patients shared similar clinical presentations such as persistent documented fever for more than 3 days, respiratory symptoms, gastrointestinal involvement, and increased inflammatory markers (CRP, ESR, and ferritin). Three patients had concurrent positive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, and the other 2 patients had contact with suspected COVID-19 positive patients. They were all manag...

Veterinarski Arhiv, Oct 20, 2004

SHEIKH-ALI, M. A., M. E. HAMAD, B. H. ALI, A. S. ALI: Alterations in some epidemiological pattern... more SHEIKH-ALI, M. A., M. E. HAMAD, B. H. ALI, A. S. ALI: Alterations in some epidemiological patterns and virus heterogeneity recently observed in sheeppox outbreaks in the Sudan. Vet. arhiv 74, 341-350, 2004.

Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 2016