本周一,诺贝尔颁奖人士称,中国女科学家屠呦呦,日本教授大村智以及爱尔兰的医学研究者William C. Campbell因研发对抗寄生虫病的药材荣获2015年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。
来自爱尔兰的Campbell和日本教授大村智因研制一种新型药材而获奖。这种名为“阿维菌素”的药材可用来对抗河盲(盘尾丝虫病)和淋巴丝虫病,并在对抗其他寄生虫病上效果显著。
中国科学家屠呦呦因创制新型抗疟药而同时获奖,该药材的使用能够显著降低疟疾患者的死亡率。
每年都会有数以万亿的人困于这种疾病,使人日渐衰弱,而今此两项研究为全人类找到了对抗疾病的新武器。”诺贝尔医学奖颁奖词如是说,并授予他们8百万瑞典克朗(相当于96万美元)。”
“这项成果为改善人类健康和减少痛苦方面所带来的益处是无法估量的。”
虽然在控制疟疾方面已经取得了一定的成就,但每年都会有数百万的人死于蚊媒病,而其中大部分的死者都为非洲最贫穷地区的婴儿和小孩。
每年,诺贝尔生理学或医学奖都是第一项公布的诺贝尔单项奖。诺贝尔奖是根据瑞典著名的商人、硝化甘油炸药的发明人阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔的遗愿创立的。诺贝尔奖分设物理、化学、生理或医学、文学、和平五个奖项,于1901年首次颁发。(中国进出口网)
William Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Tu Youyou jointly won the 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine for their work against parasitic diseases, the award-giving body said on Monday.
Irish-born Campbell and Japanese Omura won half of the prize for discovering a new drug, avermectin, that has helped the battle against river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, as well as showing effectiveness against other parasitic diseases.
The Chinese scientist Tu Youyou was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria.
"These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually," the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute said in a statement in awarding the prize of 8 million Swedish crowns ($960,000)."
"The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable. "
Despite rapid progress in controlling malaria in the past decade, the mosquito-borne disease still kills more than half a million people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in the poorest parts of Africa.
Medicine is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.