Page:Journal.pntd.0005072.pdf/2

NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES

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Fig. 1. Abdel Halim Hafez. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdel_Halim_Hafez.

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doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005072.g001

Taha Hussein (1889–1973) was a contemporary of Abdel Halim Hafez, although he lived a much longer life, passing away in his 80s. He is generally considered Egypt’s greatest 20th century intellectual, spending much of his professional life at Cairo University, where he was considered the “Dean of Arabic Literature” (Fig 2) [5,6].

Like Abdel Halim Hafez, Taha Hussein was born into extreme poverty and also contracted a debilitating NTD as a child. But, in Taha Hussein’s case, it was blinding trachoma acquired as a young child, possibly made worse by a surgical eye procedure performed by a village

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