Scientists Find Cure For Hepatitis B, Win Nobel Prize
Houghton,Harvey Alter and Charles Rice,all British scientists, have jointly won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery of Hepatitis B cure.
The Nobel Prize Committee said their discoveries ultimately “saved millions of lives”.
The virus is a common cause of liver cancer and a major reason why people need a liver transplant.
More than 300 million people have chronic liver infections globally and about 600,000 people die annually from acute or chronic complications of Hepatitis B infection.
The highest prevalence of Hepatitis B infection is in sub-Saharan Africa with about 19 million Nigerians living with the disease.
Majority of the people in these regions become infected during childhood and between 5–10% of the adult population is chronically infected says Scientists.
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In the 1960s, there was huge concern that people receiving donated blood were getting chronic hepatitis (liver inflammation) from an unknown, mysterious disease.
