Hiba Mustapha… An Egyptian Scientist Who Contributed to a Major US Experiment

Hiba Mustapha and Karen Carroll, the doctors who developed a test to diagnose the coronavirus (Johns Hopkins website)
Hiba Mustapha and Karen Carroll, the doctors who developed a test to diagnose the coronavirus (Johns Hopkins website)
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Hiba Mustapha… An Egyptian Scientist Who Contributed to a Major US Experiment

Hiba Mustapha and Karen Carroll, the doctors who developed a test to diagnose the coronavirus (Johns Hopkins website)
Hiba Mustapha and Karen Carroll, the doctors who developed a test to diagnose the coronavirus (Johns Hopkins website)

As scientists raced to confront the coronavirus, Johns Hopkins University’s name stood out as one of the most prominent sources of information on the pandemic’s spread, and the names of the scientists analyzing COVID-19 and studying its symptoms shined, as they developed one of the fastest and accurate tests to diagnose it.

Among those scientists is an Egyptian scientist who started working at Johns Hopkins University a few months ago and contributed to developing the diagnostic test that President Donald Trump considered to have “changed the rules of the game” of fighting the epidemic. Miss Mustapha and Karen Carroll, two epidemiologists at the university, developed the rapid test for detecting the coronavirus, providing a diagnosis within minutes.

Mustafa, an assistant professor of viral pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat in an exclusive interview.

"When we started researching the novel virus, diagnostic tests were only available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It used to take a long time, as the tests had to be sent to the main laboratory or state laboratories. So we worked on developing a laboratory for analyzing samples and genetic material of the virus. We purchased the components from a pharmaceutical company and worked on developing the test until we were able to provide the test in mid-March”.

Mustapha considers that the virus spread across the world extensively and at an unexpected speed. Its symptoms resembled those of SARS, which broke out between 2002 and 2003 before research centers and universities managed to control its spread. COVID-19, on the other hand, is characterized by a more rapid spread and has infected many, especially those who have weak immune systems or other diseases that affect their respiratory system. This led some patients to need ventilators.

Dr. Mustafa emphasized that “social distancing is necessary and effective in reducing the spread of the virus and no hospital in the world is capable of providing enough ventilators for the massive number of victims at once”. She adds, “We did not expect this disease to become a pandemic, and so medical laboratories were unable to meet the increasing need for tests.

We worked for three days straight to develop a rapid test and conducted experiments in order to ensure its clinical accuracy. The test is based on a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) that amplifies a small sample of genetic material obtained from the mouth or nose, and this allows the virologist to use specific computer software to determine whether the virus’s genetic material is present in the sample or not”.

The Egyptian scientist says: “On the first day we ran 50 samples, and in the following days our capacity expanded to 180 tests a day, then a thousand, and now we can run 1500 tests a day”.

Dr. Mustapha, who worked quietly alongside her colleagues to move the fight against the pandemic a step forward, comes from an Egyptian family and lived in Alexandria, where she graduated from the University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Medicine in 2004 and then went to the United States with her husband after obtaining a Ph.D. scholarship. She applied for her doctorate five years later, and then worked on "para flu" and influenza research at St. Jude Hospital, Tennessee

Later, Hiba Mustafa applied to a two-year scholarship at the University of Rochester in New York to study chemistry and microbiology and was among 12 scientists who were selected every year across the entire United States. This allowed her to earn a degree in Clinical Microbiology, and when Johns Hopkins University announced a vacancy at its Department of Microbiology, she applied for the job and was accepted in 2019.

Dr. Mustafa ruled out that the virus may evolve into a more dangerous and widespread virus while the death rate declines, but pointed out that eradicating it will not happen before reaching an effective vaccine, which is estimated to take at least one year.

She says: “The current research looks at the effect the virus has on the immune system, and the required medication to fight it, and at what part of the immune system needs to be boosted to fight the virus. We hope that the social distancing policy will continue until the rate of new cases declines and effective treatments and a vaccine are reached”.



Father of Six Killed ‘For Piece of Bread’ During Gaza Aid Distribution

 Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
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Father of Six Killed ‘For Piece of Bread’ During Gaza Aid Distribution

 Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)

Cries of grief echoed across southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital Monday as dozens came to mourn Hossam Wafi, after the father of six was killed while attempting to get supplies to feed his family.

His mother, Nahla Wafi, sobbed uncontrollably over her son, who was among 31 people killed by Israeli fire while trying to reach a food distribution site the previous day, according to the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency.

"He went to get food for his daughters and came back dead," said Nahla Wafi, who lost two sons and a nephew on Sunday.

Hossam Wafi had travelled with his brother and nephew to a newly established distribution center in the southern city of Rafah.

"They were just trying to buy (flour). But the drone came down on them," his mother said, as she tried to comfort four of her granddaughters in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel has faced growing condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned the entire population faces the risk of famine.

-'Go there and get bombed'-

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its field hospital in Rafah received 179 cases on Sunday, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival.

The ICRC said that all those wounded "said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site", and that "the majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds".

Israeli authorities and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed outfit that runs the distribution centers, denied any such incident took place.

The military instead said that troops fired "warning shots" at people who approached them one kilometer away from the Rafah distribution site before dawn.

A witness told AFP thousands of people gathered at the area, known locally as the Al-Alam junction, between 2:00 and 4:00 am (2300 GMT and 0100 GMT) in the hopes of reaching the distribution center.

At Nasser Hospital, Hossam Wafi's young daughters called out for their father, kissing his body wrapped in a white shroud, before it was taken away.

Outside the hospital, dozens of men stood in silence before the body, praying. Some cried as the remains were taken away, one of them holding the father's face until he was gently pulled away.

His uncle, Ali Wafi, told AFP he felt angry his nephew was killed while trying to get aid.

"They go there and get bombed -- airstrikes, tanks, shelling -- all for a piece of bread," he said.

"He went for a bite of bread, not for anything else. What was he supposed to do? He had to feed his little kids. And the result? He's getting buried today," he added.

- Militarized aid -

The deaths in Rafah were one of two deadly incidents reported by Gaza's civil defense agency on Sunday around the GHF centers, which the UN says contravene basic humanitarian principles and appear designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

There have been several other reports of chaotic scenes and warning shots fired in connection with the distribution sites over the past week.

The UN's humanitarian agency (OCHA) published a video of one such distribution site in central Gaza's Netzarim corridor on Thursday.

A large crowd is seen gathered around four long corridors made from metal fences installed in the middle of an arid landscape, corralling men and women into files to receive flour.

The distribution site and its waiting area sit on a flattened piece of land surrounded by massive mounds of soil and sand.

It is manned by English-speaking security guards travelling in armored vehicles.

Palestinians exiting the distribution area carry cardboard boxes sometimes bearing a "GHF" logo, as well as wooden pallets presumably to be repurposed as fuel or structures for shelter.

In the large crowd gathered outside the gated corridors, some men are seen shoving each other, and one woman complains that her food package was stolen.

Hossam Wafi's uncle Ali said he wished Gaza's people could safely get aid.

"People take the risk (to reach the distribution site), just so they can survive."