A Jewish scientist who made a landmark discovery in the fight against hepatitis C was among three professors jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday.
The US researcher Harvey J Alter received the prestigious accolade together with Michael Houghton, who is British, and the American Charles M Rice for their work on the deadly disease, which affects 215,000 people in the UK.
The hepatitis c virus, which can cause life-threatening liver damage if left untreated, can be transmitted through blood-to-blood contact.
Prior to the trio’s “seminal” discoveries, the majority of cases were unexplained, the Nobel Assembly said in a release. Professor Alter helped prove in 1972 that an unknown virus was a common cause of chronic hepatitis, it added.
Years later, Professor Houghton managed to isolate its genome using an untested technique in 1989. Finally, in 1997, Professor Rice found further evidence proving the virus can cause hepatitis.
The three laureates made possible the development of highly sensitive blood tests and anti-viral drugs, helping save millions of lives around the world, the assembly said.
