{"id":6085,"date":"2020-10-06T08:08:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T08:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailykashmirpost.com\/eng\/?p=6085"},"modified":"2020-10-06T08:08:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T08:08:58","slug":"us-british-trio-win-nobel-medicine-prize-for-hepatitis-c-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailykashmirpost.com\/eng\/2020\/10\/06\/us-british-trio-win-nobel-medicine-prize-for-hepatitis-c-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"US-British trio win Nobel Medicine Prize for Hepatitis C discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice together with Briton Michael Houghton won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, the Nobel jury said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The three were honoured for their \u201cdecisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world,\u201d the jury said.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization estimates there to be around 70 million Hepatitis C infections globally, causing around 400,000 deaths each year.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are now available and these have \u201cessentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health\u201d, the Nobel committee said.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/p>\n

Their discovery also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs directed at Hepatitis C.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating Hepatitis C virus from the world population,\u201d the jury said.<\/p>\n

Prior to the trio\u2019s work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had seen critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discovery of Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives,\u201d the jury said.<\/p>\n

Alter was credited for his pioneering work studying the occurrence of hepatitis in patients who had received blood transfusions, determining that their illness was neither Hepatitis A or B.<\/p>\n

Houghton built on Alter\u2019s work to isolate the genetic sequence of the new virus.<\/p>\n

Rice subsequently completed the puzzle by using genetic engineering to prove that it was the new strain alone \u2014 Hepatitis C \u2014 that was causing patients to get sick.<\/p>\n

The trio will share the Nobel prize sum of 10 million Swedish kronor (about $1.1 million, 950,000 euros).<\/p>\n

They would normally receive their prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred Nobel who created the prizes in his last will and testament.<\/p>\n

But the in-person ceremony has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, replaced with a televised ceremony showing the laureates receiving their awards in their home countries.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n