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, it...

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.