On Oct. 5, 2015 three scientists have been announced that won the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine in discovering a therapy that can help the doctors in fighting malaria and infections that are caused by roundworm parasites, and one of these scientists is Chinese, Tu Youyou, the so-called first ever Chinese medicine laureate.

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According to The Guardian, the first of the three prestigious science prizes has been revealed today on the first day of the Nobel week. The three winners are from Japan, Ireland, and China - Satoshi Omura, William C. Campbell, and Tu.

The drug that could help lower the incidence of river blindness as well as lumphatic filariasis, which are caused by parasitic worms was discovered by Omura and Campbell.

Moreover, Tu also discovered a drug that can significantly help reduce the mortality rates in patients due to malaria disease.

These two discoveries provide humankind the powerful new means to fight these above mentioned diseases that affect hundreds of people every year, the Nobel Prize committee said, as stated by CBC News. The consequences are immeasurable in terms of reduced suffering and improved human health.

Omura is an 80-year-old professor emeritus at Kitasato University, Yamanashi, Japan, while Campbell is a research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and Tu is the chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The first Nobel Prize that was announced was the Medicine Award. The other winners of the chemistry, peace and physics prizes are set to be announced later of the Nobel Prize week - this week - and the literature prize is expected to be announced on Oct. 8, Thursday. However, the economics prize is yet set on Oct. 12, Monday.

It is said that the winners will share the eight million Swedish kronor or about $961,000 (American dollars). Half of the prize money would go to Omura and Campbell, while the other half would go to Tu. Each winner would get a diploma and a gold medal at the annual award ceremony, which is going to be held on Dec. 10 - the death anniversary of the prize founder, Alfred Nobel.

Tagsnobel prize, medicine award, Tu Youyou, Alfred Nobel, Malaria