Noble Prize in Medicine

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to American scientists Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, and Michael Houghton of the UK. They have been recognised for their contributions to the discovery of a new virus that was the cause of a vast majority of chronic hepatitis cases, or cases of serious liver inflammation, in patients who required blood transfusion. This virus was eventually called Hepatitis C virus.

• Since the discovery and identification of the virus in the 1970s and 1980s, a cure has been found for the disease, and effective anti-viral drugs are now available. Tests have ....