Nobel Prize for Medicine: three researchers rewarded for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus
Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles Rice are awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine on October 5, 2020.
Nobel Prize
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The Nobel Prize for Medicine this year rewards a Briton, Michael Houghton, and two Americans, Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus. The jury mentions in its announcement "a major global health problem which causes the cirrhosis and liver cancer ”around the world.
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For the first time in history, the hepatitis
C
virus can now be cured,
" said the committee.
The findings of 2020 winners, Briton Michael Houghton, and Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, have revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis.
They have made possible blood tests and new drugs that have saved millions of lives.
A major public health discovery for the whole world is thus rewarded, this Monday, October 5.
A silent disease, hepatitis C is now a pathology that can be cured with new treatments.
The latest generation of antiretrovirals have indeed revolutionized the fight against the disease.
They allow healing in 9 out of 10 cases
.
Allow better screening
However, progress remains to be made in terms of screening.
It is estimated that 71 million people worldwide are infected with this virus.
This disease, which affects the liver, still kills 400,000 people worldwide each year.
Tuesday October 6, it is the Nobel Prize in physics which will be announced then, Wednesday October 7, that of chemistry.
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