Nobel medicine prize for new tools to kill parasites

Three scientists from the United States, Japan and China won the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering drugs to fight malaria and other tropical diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people every year.   The Nobel judges in Stockholm awarded the prestigious prize to William Campbell, an Irish-born US citizen, Satoshi Omura of Japan and Tu Youyou - the first-ever Chinese medicine laureate.  Campbell and Omura were cited for discovering avermectin, derivatives of which have helped lower the incidence of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, two diseases caused by parasitic worms that affect millions of people in Africa and Asia.  Tu discovered artemisinin, a drug that has helped significantly reduce the mortality rates of malaria patients.

``The two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,'' the committee said. ``The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immensurable.''  River blindness is an eye and skin disease that ultimately leads to blindness. About 90 percent of the disease occurs in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.  Lymphatic filariasis can lead to swelling of the limbs and genitals, called elephantiasis, and it's primarily a threat in Africa and Asia. The WHO says 120 million people are infected with the disease, without about 40 million disfigured and incapacitated.  (Source: AP)