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Three win 2020 Nobel medicine award for discovering Hepatitis C virus

The World Health Organization estimates there are over 70 million cases of hepatitis worldwide and 400,000 deaths each year

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice  | Credits: @NobelPrize
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The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice | Credits: @NobelPrize

AP | PTI Stockholm
Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton jointly won the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a major source of liver disease that affects millions worldwide.

Announcing the prize in Stockholm, the Nobel Committee noted that the trio's work identified a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that couldn't be explained by the previously discovered hepatitis A and B viruses. Their work, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s, has helped saved millions of lives, it said.

“Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are