The 2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to American Scientists, Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice as well as their British counterpart, Michael Houghton for their work in identifying the Hepatitis C virus, which causes cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The award is one of the most sought-after global accolades and grants entry into one of the most prestigious clubs in the world.
The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said in a statement, “Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward.
“The 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.”
Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are now available and these have “essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health.
“For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating Hepatitis C virus from the world population.”
The methodical studies of transfusion-associated hepatitis by Harvey Alter demonstrated that an unknown virus was a common cause of chronic hepatitis.
Michael Houghton then used an untested strategy to isolate the genome of the new virus that was named Hepatitis C.
Charles Rice provided the final evidence showing that Hepatitis C virus alone could cause hepatitis.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, an estimated 71 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus infection worldwide. A significant number of those who are chronically infected will develop cirrhosis or liver cancer.
The most affected regions are the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and the WHO European Region.
The hepatitis C virus is a bloodborne virus and as such, the most common modes of infection are through exposure to small quantities of blood. This may happen through injection drug use, unsafe injection practices, unsafe health care, transfusion of unscreened blood and blood products, and sexual practices that lead to exposure to blood.
There is currently no effective vaccine against hepatitis C; however, research in this area is ongoing.
The award for work on a virus comes as the world battles the new coronavirus pandemic.
The winners 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.
The in-person ceremony has however been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, replaced with a televised ceremony showing the laureates receiving their awards in their home countries.
Last year, the honour went to US researchers, William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza and Britain’s Peter Ratcliffe on for discoveries on how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.
The winners of this year’s physics prize will be revealed on Tuesday 6th October, followed by the chemistry Prize on Wednesday.
The literature prize will be announced on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize will wrap up the Nobel prize season on Monday, October 12.
