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WHY PARASITOLOGY WINS THE NOBEL PRIZE by Dr.T.V.Rao MD
1. WHY PARASITOLOGY WINS THE NOBEL PRIZE
Why the Malaria fascinates me
Dr.T.V.Rao MD
As a Doctor qualified in the past, our teachers taught us better
parasitology than many of us do today and parasitology was identified as a cause of great
human suffering than the Bacteria, virus and fungus in the past. When I read the
Parasitology wins the Nobel Prize the world must have woke to the realities of implications
of human suffering associated with parasites , I was very fascinated to read a quote by
Oliver Sacks In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and
biology. In examining the person with disease, we gain wisdom about life. The great
suffering of the Humans with parasitic infection teach greater wisdom to life and death
when we find helpless to save most valuable humans, Today the parasitology is neglected
and someone recognized for the great contributions. I am very happy the neglected
parasitology wins the Nobel prize, today we concentrate more on life prolongation, sciences
like Cardiology, Neurology Nephrology or any other rarely we think of a young man with
parasitic infection who is poor and suffers the consequences of disabilities death and loss of
human hours, however the matters open to many how important is parasitology still Nobel
selectors have taken a Nobel cause for the realities of human suffering with parasitic
infections. If you take Africa’s concerns many of the killers to humans continues to be
neglect and the parasites play a great havoc to kills many people. Three scientists from
Japan, China and Ireland whose discoveries led to the development of potent new drugs
against parasitic diseases including malaria and elephantiasis won the Nobel Prize for
Medicine. Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for
discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of
people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. China’s Youyou Tu was
awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed
malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the disease. She is China's first
Nobel laureate in medicine. Among many diseases Malaria continues to be most interesting
as it kills the people instantaneously with manifestation of Falciparum malaria. Way back to
late 70’s and early eighties if you are on night day in any modern Hospital we are certain to
certify one or two children’s deaths in emergency hours, people are helpless and in the
process created lots of economic instability in many continents in Africa, However I was very
happy to work with supporting team who have a greater approach to Humans than what we
see in the modernized world, I have seen rebellions in the Military schools as sudden death
happens in the war fare training centres, with Falciparum malarial infection, It just means if
you are Doctor in Africa the death is more important part of profession than life we deal.
However the technicians and paramedical people are experts in tracing the least number of
parasites in the smear, our strength was a very old microscope and dedicated staff and our
determination to face life and death, It makes to think today the Nobel prize wakes up the
world for better approaches to human suffering TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE Tu,
2. meanwhile, turned to a traditional Chinese herbal medicine in her hunt for a better malaria
treatment, following the declining success of the older drugs chloroquine and quinine. She
found that an extract from the plant Artemisia annua was sometimes effective but the
results were inconsistent, so she went back to ancient literature, including a recipe from 350
AD, in the search for clues. This eventually led to the isolation of artemisinin, a new class of
anti-malaria drug, which was available in China before it reached the West. Tu has worked
at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1965. Tu, meanwhile, turned to
a traditional Chinese herbal medicine in her hunt for a better malaria treatment, following
the declining success of the older drugs chloroquine and quinine. She found that an extract
from the plant Artemisia annua was sometimes effective but the results were inconsistent,
so she went back to ancient literature, including a recipe from AD 350, in the search for
clues. "We now have drugs that kill these parasites very early in their life-cycle. "They not
only kill these parasites but they stop these infections from spreading. “Despite rapid
progress in controlling malaria in the past decade, the disease still kills around half a million
people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in the poorest parts of
Africa. Death rates from malaria have plunged 60 percent in the past 15 years, although the
disease still kills around half a million people a year, the vast majority of them babies and
young children in the poorest parts of Africa. Today, the medicine ivermectin, a derivative of
avermectin made by Merck & Co, is used worldwide to fight roundworm parasites, while
artemisinin-based drugs from firms including Novartis and Sanofi are the main weapons
against malaria.
Ref Beating Parasites Wins 3 Scientists Nobel Prize for Medicine by Simon Johnson and Ben
Hirschler Medscape Infectious diseases
Dr.T.V.Rao MD Professor of Microbiology Freelance writer
A GREAT TRIBUTE TO WHO MADE IT