Medicine Nobel prize goes to discoverers of hepatitis C virus
Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles Rice share prize for uncovering the disease-causing agent affecting more than 71 million people
In the midst of a viral pandemic, three discoverers of an entirely different virus – hepatitis C – have been awarded the Nobel prize in medicine. Harvey Alter from the US National Institutes of Health, Michael Houghton at Canada’s University of Alberta and Charles Rice at the Rockefeller University in the US share this year’s prize for uncovering the cause of a major global health problem that affects 71 million people – 1% of the world’s population.