Two French scientists who discovered the AIDS virus and a German
who bucked conventional wisdom to find a virus that causes cervical
cancer were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for medicine.
Luc Montagnier, director of the World Foundation for AIDS Research
and Prevention, and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi of the Institut
Pasteur won half the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4
million) for discovering the virus that has killed 25 million
people since it was identified in the 1980s.
Dr Harald zur Hausen of the University of Duesseldorf and a former
director of the German Cancer Research Center shared the other half
of the prize for work that went against the established opinion
about the cause of cervical cancer.
"The three laureates have discovered two new viruses of great
importance and the result of that has led to an improved global
health," said Jan Andersson, a member of the Nobel Assembly at
Sweden's Karolinska Institute.
The discoveries made it possible to diagnose both infections, and
led to the development of two vaccines that prevent cervical
cancer, and more than 20 drugs that can keep HIV patients
healthy.
But Montagnier said those who most need the diagnosis and
treatments for AIDS are not getting either.
"It's Africa which is carrying the weight of the epidemic at this
moment. Out of millions of people infected, a large number are not
being treated, either because they don't have access to treatment
or because they don't know they are infected," Montagnier said in
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he was giving a lecture.
The award is a decisive vote for Montagnier in a long-running
dispute over who discovered and identified the virus, Montagnier or
Dr Robert Gallo, then of the US National Cancer Institute.
"There was no doubt as to who made the fundamental discoveries,"
Nobel Assembly member Maria Masucci told Reuters.
Cancer discovery
Zur Hausen was recognized for finding that the human papilloma
virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer.
"More than five percent of all cancers worldwide are caused by
persistent infection with this virus," the Nobel committee
said.
The virus, which infects at least half of all sexually active
adults, can also cause genital warts, cancer of the penis and other
genitalia.
The German scientist, who began his research in the 1970s, searched
for different HPV types, detecting them in 70% of cervical tumour
samples from around the world.
An estimated 500,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year
and about 300,000 die from it, mostly in the developing
world.
Zur Hausen said he thought more cancers would be linked to
viruses.
"I suspect there will be more in the future," he said in a
telephone interview.
GlaxoSmithKline and Merck and Co have developed vaccines against
HPV - which are controversial because to be effective the series of
costly shots must be given to girls before they begin sexual
activity.
Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded
each year.
The prizes for achievement in science, literature and peace were
first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite
inventor Alfred Nobel.
The Nobel laureate for physics will be announced on Tuesday,
chemistry on Wednesday, literature on Thursday and the Nobel Peace
Prize on Friday in Oslo.
