Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton jointly won the Nobel Prize for medicine yesterday 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 now available and these have essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health,” the committee said.

“Their discovery also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs directed at hepatitis C,” it added. “For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating hepatitis C virus from the world population.”

WHO estimates there are over 70 million cases of hepatitis C worldwide and 400,000 deaths from it each year. The disease is chronic and a major cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis requiring liver transplants.

John McLauchlan, a professor of viral hepatitis at the University of Glasgow, called the theree laureates “pioneers” and said their discovery made the global elimination of the disease possible. In 2016, the World Health Organization issued a strategy to wipe out the disease by 2030.

The medicine prize carried particular significance this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the importance that medical research has for societies and economies around the world.

“That would mark the first time we might possibly control a viral infection using only drugs,” McLauchlan said.

“The only issue is getting drugs to people and places where they desperately need them,” he said, adding that the disease primarily strikes stigmatized populations like drug users and the poor.

Alter, who was born in 1935 in New York, carried out his prize-winning studies at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, where he remains active, the committee said. Rice, born in 1952 in Sacramento, California, worked on hepatitis at Washington University in St. Louis and now works at Rockefeller University in New York. Houghton, born in Britain in 1950, studied at the Chiron Corporation in California before moving to the University of Alberta in Canada.

The medicine prize carried particular significance this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the importance that medical research has for societies and economies around the world.

Will Irving, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, said that identifying hepatitis C had been the “holy grail” in medicine.

“After hepatitis A and B were discovered in the 1970s, it was clear there was still at least one other virus or more that were causing liver damage,” he said.

“We knew there was a virus in the blood supply, because when people had blood transfusions they would get liver damage,” Irving said. “It was recognized as a risk but there was nothing we could do. We didn’t know what the virus was and we couldn’t test for it.”

Nobel Committee member Patrik Ernfors drew a parallel between this year’s prize and the current rush by millions of scientists around the world to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

“The first thing you need to do is to identify the causing virus,” he told reporters. “And once that has been done, that is, in itself, the starting point for development of drugs to treat the disease and also to develop vaccines against the disorder.”

Unlike hepatitis A, which is transmitted via food or water and causes an acute infection that can last a few weeks, hepatitis B and C are transmitted through blood.

The hepatitis C virus belongs to a group known as flaviviruses that also includes West Nile virus, dengue virus and yellow fever virus.

Thomas Perlmann, the Secretary-General of the Nobel Committee, managed yesterday to reach two of the winners, Alter and Rice.

The Nobel Committee often recognises basic science that has laid the foundations for practical applications in common use today.

The prestigious Nobel award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1,118,000), courtesy of a bequest left 124 years ago by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.

Yesterday’s medicine award is the first of six prizes this year being announced through Oct. 12. The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

Our Reporter

THERE was confusion in the White House at the weekend over the actual state of health of President Donald Trump.

His physician Dr. Sean Conley said yesterday in an update on the United States (U.S.) leader that he had received supplemental oxygen on two occasions to combat his COVID-19 infection.

Speaking outside Walter Reed Medical Centre, Conley said the president had experienced two transient drops in his oxygen levels since being diagnosed with the coronavirus.

He was given two litres of oxygen at the White House on Friday morning when he also had a high fever. He was also given oxygen on Saturday at Walter Reed.

But, it was learnt that Trump’s condition after testing positive for coronavirus on Friday was far worse than what officials had made public. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said doctors had recommended Trump should go to the hospital after seeing he had a fever and his blood oxygen level dropped rapidly.

Speaking to Fox News on Saturday, Meadows said: “I can tell you this the biggest thing we see is with no fever now, and with him doing really well with his oxygen saturation levels.

“Yesterday morning, we were really concerned by that. He had a fever, and his oxygen level had dropped rapidly. Yet in typical style, this president was up and walking around.”

Also, at Saturday’s medical update, Dr. Conley told reporters that Trump had not had trouble breathing, and was not given oxygen at Walter Reed.

The medical team also said the president has been given dexamethasone, shown in studies to improve survival for patients hospitalised with critical COVID-19, who need extra oxygen.

However, it should not be given in mild cases since it can limit the body’s own ability to combat the virus, according to guidelines from the Infectious Disease Society of America.

Trump also received a second dose in a five-day course of Remdesivir, the intravenous antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences that can shorten hospital stays.

Conley said the president continues to improve and could be discharged as early as today, but would not be drawn on some of the other specifics of his care, including how low his oxygen levels dropped.

When questioned as to why there were conflicting reports regarding the president’s condition on Saturday, the medical team said doctors were trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that Trump has had in delivering his health reports.

Read Also: Trump’s condition improving, not on oxygen – Doctor

On Saturday morning, Trump’s condition was said to be improving and that he was already talking about returning to the White House.

However, minutes later, Meadows gave reporters a less rosy assessment, saying: “The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”

Meadows, whose initial comments were delivered on condition that he should not be identified, altered his tone hours later, telling Reuters that Trump was doing “very well” and that “doctors are very pleased with his vital signs”.

He did not clarify the discrepancy in his comments, but in an interview with Fox News broadcast on Saturday night, Meadows revealed that Trump’s condition on Friday was far worse than officials had made public, saying doctors recommended the president go to the hospital after seeing he had a fever and his blood oxygen level dropped rapidly.

A Trump adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president was not happy to learn of Meadows’ initial remarks. CNN reports that the president was “furious” with him.

Our Reporter

Mecca, Saudi Arabia slowly stirred from a seven-month hibernation yesterday as pilgrims trickled in after Saudi authorities partially lifted a coronavirus ban on performing Umrah – a pilgrimage to Islam’s two holiest sites that is undertaken at any time of year.

A limited number of people yesterday donned the white terrycloth garment symbolic of the Muslim pilgrimage and circled Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.

The kingdom had taken the rare step in early March of suspending the lesser “Umrah” pilgrimage, which can be taken at any time of the year and draws millions from across the world, as the coronavirus morphed into a global pandemic and prompted countries to impose lockdowns and curfews to slow down transmission.

But as nations begin to ease those restrictions, the Saudi government yesterday started allowing a maximum of 6,000 pilgrims a day to enter the sprawling Grand Mosque in Mecca. Only Saudi citizens and residents will be permitted to enter the mosque during this first phase of reopening, and each person has up to three hours to complete the pilgrimage.

Read Also: Lagos pilgrims return to Mecca

The Grand Mosque, which is being sterilised and cleaned multiple times a day, houses the cube-shaped Kaaba that observant Muslims pray toward five times a day.

Before visitors can enter the mosque to pray or perform the Umrah, they have to apply and reserve a specific time and date through an online application to avoid crowding and maintain social distancing. Visitors can also select their means of transportation and meeting points via the app.

State TV yesterday showed what appeared to be fewer than 50 people circling the Kaaba at the same time and walking several meters (feet) apart. Typically, the mosque would be packed with worshippers from around the world crowded shoulder-to-shoulder at all times of the day and night.

The second phase for loosening restrictions at the Grand Mosque comes into effect on Oct. 18, allowing a maximum of 15,000 pilgrims and 40,000 for prayer from among residents and citizens based on allocated times via the app.

Muslim travellers from outside Saudi Arabia could be allowed to perform the Umrah pilgrimage as early as Nov. 1, the Interior Ministry has said. Saudi Arabia recently began easing some restrictions on international flights for the first time since March.

The kingdom held a dramatically downsized, symbolic hajj pilgrimage in July due to concerns that it could easily have become a global super-spreader event for the virus. Pilgrims were selected after applying through an online portal and all were residents or citizens of Saudi Arabia. Rather than the more than 2 million pilgrims the kingdom hosts for the annual event, as little as 1,000 took part after being tested for the virus and quarantined.

Despite taking early and sweeping measures to contain the virus, Saudi Arabia has recorded nearly 336,000 cases, including 4,850 deaths.

Religious pilgrimage generates $12 billion in revenues from worshippers’ lodging, transport, gifts, food and fees, according to official data.

The country hosted a drastically reduced hajj in late July for the first time in modern history, with a few thousand domestic pilgrims instead of the usual white-clad sea of some 3 million Muslims.

Near the Grand Mosque, hotels at high-rise towers were mostly empty and shopping malls closed hours before the resumption of Umrah. Dozens of stores and restaurants were shut.

Economists have estimated Mecca’s hotel sector may lose at least 40 per cent of pilgrimage-driven income this year.