Three win Nobel medicine award for Hepatitis C virus discovery

The prize has been awarded jointly to Harvey J Alter, left on screen, Michael Houghton, centre, and Charles M Rice Picture: Claudio Bresciani/TT via AP

British scientist Michael Houghton and Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.

Announcing the prize in Stockholm on Monday, the Nobel Committee noted that the trio’s work helped explain a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that could not be explained by the hepatitis A and B viruses.