To whom and for what the Nobel Prize in 2015 for physiology and medicine – BBC

worms, gnats, mosquitoes

This year’s Nobel Laureates have developed techniques that have revolutionized the treatment of the most dangerous for human parasitic diseases, said the Nobel committee. William Campbell and Satoshi Omura created a drug called Avermectin, which manifested itself as an effective tool to combat onchocerciasis (“river blindness,” is characterized by the formation of subcutaneous nodules, lesions of the skin and eyes), elephantiasis (“elephantiasis” persistent increase in the size of any parts of the body because of the painful growths of the skin and subcutaneous tissue) and other parasitic diseases. Yu Tu developed Artemisinin – a drug that significantly reduced mortality became a victim of the malaria people.

These two discoveries have given mankind a new means to fight the diseases that each year affect hundreds of millions of people and their contribution to the global goal of improving the quality of life of people around the world really is invaluable.

Half of the prize – for worms

parasitic worms – or helminths – estimated Professionals amazed about a third of the world’s population. Most often they are found in Africa, South Asia, Central and South America.

The carrier of onchocerciasis are female midges Simulium damnosum, who spread the worm parasite Onchocerca volvulus. The females give birth to a plurality of larvae which initially settle in human lymph node, then migrate under the epidermis of the skin, where they can once again enter the body midges and thus continue the cycle of the parasites. Part of the worm gets into the human eye, penetrating into all tissues of the optic body.

The eyeball they cause inflammation, bleeding and other complications, leading eventually to blindness.

The causative agent of elephantiasis is a parasite called Brugia malayi. The affected areas of the skin covered them warts and sores, then there is swelling. Connective tissues grow, which ultimately leads to an increase in the size of the human body or limb and to change its shape. Progression of the disease can cause other problems such as the spread of infection in the lymphatic vessels.

Japanese Satoshi Omura microbiologists for many years engaged in research of bacteria called Streptomyces, which are manufacturers of many antibiotics. Satoshi Omura were found in soil samples several thousand new strains of bacteria, to fifty of which the researcher has focused further attention. William Campbell, an Irish parasitologist, who worked in the United States, joined the research Omura.

Researchers have discovered a strain of bacteria produced which antibiotics act is particularly effective against parasites that infect both pets and the person.

The bioactive agent called Avermectin, and later out of it was allocated more effective means – Ivermectin. This drug has been tested in humans and has proven effective in destroying larvae of parasitic worms, and the first publication dedicated to the development, appeared in 1979 in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Traditional medicine has helped in the fight against malaria

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. According to experts, at the beginning of the XXI century, malaria struck 350 – 500 million people a year, 1.3 – 3 million of whom eventually died, and the vast majority of infected children under the age of five. Chinese scholar Tu Yu began working to find means of malaria even in the 1960s. While Yu Tu engaged in traditional Chinese medicine based on herbal therapy. She found that an extract from the plant Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) may be a good candidate for a “position” fighter against malaria. Tu Yu succeeded in isolating from wormwood component called Artemisinin, which was able to exterminate malaria parasites in the case of animals and people. Artemisinin is a new class of anti-malarial drugs, which kill the pathogen in the earliest stages of their development.

Yu Tu became the first Chinese woman who won the Nobel Prize in medicine, and 12 women to receive this award.

In addition, its achievement in 2011 has already been noted Lasker Award. When you receive this prestigious award Yu Tu said: “The biggest reward for me – it is seen as recovering my patients».

Interestingly, her husband Yu Tu was her classmate – an ordinary factory worker.

Thomson Reuters not guessed

None of the current winners are not included in the list of Thomson Reuters or this year or in the past.

This year, the list of likely winners of the “Nobel” medicine according to Thomson Reuters was formerly in Moscow Alexander Rudenskiy, who moved to the US in 1989. It was assumed that the Committee could note his fundamental discoveries concerning the nature and purpose of the cells of human immune system.

Among the nominees Thomson Reuters on medical “Nobel” was also attended by Geoffrey Gordon, who was able to demonstrate that between man and microflora his intestines there close relationship and Katsuosi Mori and Peter Walter, who explained how the system works to ensure “quality control” of living cells.

In the area of ​​the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Russian scientists became laureates only twice, and something else in the days of Czarist Russia. Awards awarded Ivan Pavlov (“for his work on the physiology of digestion,” 1904) and Ilya Mechnikov, received the award together with the German Paul Ehrlich “for his work on immunity” in 1908.

The Nobel Prize in 2015 8 million Swedish kronor, which is $ 960 thousand.