Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice receive this year’s Nobel Prize. They have discovered the virus that is the cause of the blood disease hepatitis C.
This is stated by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
According to the Nobel Assembly, the three researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery of the virus. Blood-borne hepatitis is one of the world’s biggest health problems.
– This is a well-deserved award. These three researchers have carried out the type of basic research that is absolutely necessary to be able to fight such a disease and a hidden epidemic that often affects vulnerable groups, says CEO John-Arne Røttingen of the Research Council of Norway.
Karolinska Institutet writes that the breakthrough has made it possible to develop blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.
Chronic liver damage and liver cancer
The disease causes chronic liver damage and liver cancer in people all over the world. Before, it was not possible to treat the disease properly.
Hepatitis C is transmitted through blood. Here in Norway, it is especially drug addicts who share syringes that are affected.
It is estimated that approximately 10,000 people in Norway have chronic hepatitis C.
– Hepatitis A and B viruses have already been detected, and there were major medical breakthroughs, but a large proportion of cases of blood-borne hepatitis remained unexplained, Karolinska Institutet writes in a press release.
The discovery of the hepatitis C virus means that the high risk of blood infection could be explained.
Alter and Rice are Americans, while Houghton is from the UK.
– Need a bedrock of research
Røttingen explains that the work the three researchers do is incredibly important for future research, because they have laid a solid foundation.
Especially in a pandemic that the world is in now, it is important to have a good basis for reacting quickly.
– In a crisis like the one we are in now, we need real-time research and the ability to react quickly, but to be able to do that you need a bedrock of previous long-term research, and researchers who have been involved in this, says Røttingen.
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