UPSC Articles
Nobel Prize For Medicine Or Physiology 2020 announced
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Science and technology; Biotechnology
In news
- Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton were chosen for the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
Important value additions
Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
- It is a small (55–65 nm in size), enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus
- Family: Flaviviridae.
- It is the cause of hepatitis C and some cancers such as liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, abbreviated HCC) and lymphomas in humans.
- Unlike hepatitis A and B, there is currently no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C infection
- The World Health Organisation estimates there are over 70 million cases of hepatitis worldwide and 400,000 deaths each year. The disease is chronic and a major cause of liver inflammation and cancer.
