Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe’s research on Ebola hemorrhagic fever is rewarded. This Congolese doctor receives half a million euros for his work.
The co-discoverer of the Ebola virus is rewarded by the Institut de France. The 2015 Christophe Mérieux Prize returns to Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe. The 500,000 euros endowment that accompanies the prize supports his research into Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Congo Basin.
Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), is the first researcher to visit the site of the first Ebola epidemic in 1976. Grace to the samples it collects, in particular from a sick nurse, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (Belgium) identifies the virus.
The initiator of serotherapy
Dr. Muyembe’s work on the various epidemics has made it possible to describe the manifestations of hemorrhagic fever and the risk factors for contagion (hospitals, funeral rites). This body of knowledge makes it possible to recognize the disease more quickly, to break the chain of transmission and to put in place the necessary hygiene measures during burials. These are all valuable measures for doctors practicing in West Africa, where the Ebola epidemic is still alive.
Dr Muyembe’s team also laid the foundations for serotherapy, which is currently in development: 8 patients received blood transfusions from convalescents. 7 had been saved.
Didier Raoult rewarded
Among the other scientific prizes awarded to the Institut de France are numerous medical discoveries. French Didier Raoult and the Briton Chris Bowler will receive on June 3 the scientific prize of the Louis D. Foundation (450,000 euros). The first is rewarded for its study on the repertoire of microbes in the digestive tract and the evolution of its antibiotic activity.
The Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation also salutes the “revolutionary” work of Dr. Albert Starr, which receives 500,000 euros for its open heart surgery program and the implantation of the first mechanical artificial heart valve.
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