Hepatitis C virus-hunting scientists win Nobel Prize for medicine
Why are they being honoured now and what can their work teach us about defeating COVID-19?
As the world battles a new and deadly pathogen, scientists Harvey Alter, Charles Rice and Michael Houghton have been honoured with the Nobel Prize for medicine for their work on a virus that has ravaged people for decades: Hepatitis C.
Research dating back to the 1960s successfully identified the virus, limited its spread and led to effective treatments.
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But, as with the new coronavirus, there is no vaccine.
Can the World Health Organization (WHO) achieve its goal of eradicating Hepatitis C within a decade? And what does the fight against Hepatitis C teach us about the efforts to defeat COVID-19?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Stephen Griffin – Associate professor at Leeds University, chair of the Virology Division at the UK Microbiology Society
Philippa Easterbrook – Epidemiologist and scientist with the WHO’s Global Hepatitis Programme
Dr Bob Arnot – Former chief medical correspondent at NBC News
Published On 6 Oct 2020