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How Abu Dhabi used waste water samples from planes to prevent spread of monkeypox in UAE

how-abu-dhabi-used-waste-water-samples-from-planes-to-prevent-spread-of-monkeypox-in-uae

Monkeypox prevention efforts in Abu Dhabi included analyzing airplane waste water samples as explained by a senior healthcare official. 


Hasan Jasem Al Nowais who serves as the Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of M42 and Chairman of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi stated "We pinpoint monkeypox through airplane waste water collection which helped track infected travelers and improve response measures." 

On Tuesday during a media roundtable, Al Nowais addressed reporters at the second day of Arab Health. 

Monkeypox is a zootonic disease that produces flu-like symptoms including fever and chills alongside a rash that persists for several weeks. Transmission of the disease usually occurs through physical contact with infected animals or human carriers. The disease has been spreading continuously since 2022. 

They used knowledge gained during the Covid pandemic to effectively manage the virus outbreak. Exit from and entry into the area were both prohibited. And we started clustering Abu Dhabi.  The implementation of the Abu Dhabi clustering approach resulted in the city maintaining very low Covid spread rates. 

Regular testing  


Officials stated Abu Dhabi maintained constant vigilance in pathogen screening. The Chief Executive Officer of Diagnostics at M42, Dr Laila Abdel Wareth outlined the routine tasks performed by her team. 


The environmental sciences lab she described stands as a very powerful facility because it contains the latest and greatest tools. Together with the Abu Dhabi political council we perform examinations on sewage water to detect all known pathogens. Our goal is to prevent the development of areas where such organisms can proliferate. 


She explained that their team conducts regular monitoring of respiratory viruses. Our surveillance process includes sampling patients with respiratory symptoms to determine if their infection is caused by swine flu or H1N1 or if it represents a new virus. Our surveillance operations occur consistently throughout various field locations. 


Abu Dhabi’s Smart Move!  The UAE is implementing an innovative strategy to prevent monkeypox transmission by analyzing plane wastewater. Subscribe to Just Dubai to access the most recent news updates.

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