Stockholm, Sweden (BBN)-The Nobel Prize for medicine has this year been jointly awarded to three scientists for their work on parasitic diseases.
Half of the award goes to William Campbell of Ireland and Satoshi Omura of Japan, who discovered a new drug to treat infections caused by roundworm parasites, reports CNN.
The other half goes to China's Youyou Tu, who used traditional herbal medicine to find a new kind of antimalarial agent.
"Parasitic diseases affect the world's poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing," the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute said Monday.
"This year's Nobel Laureates have developed therapies that have revolutionized the treatment of some of the most devastating parasitic diseases."
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