2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to AIDS pioneers and Cancer researcher

Luc Montagnier, and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi won half the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns (£800,000) for discovering HIV virus. Harald zur Hausen shared the other half of the prize for the discovery of “human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer.” Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth he earned from his dynamite business to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.

Stress and Cervical Cancer

According to the World Health Organization, about 250,000 people world wide suffering from Cervical Cancer die every year. It is the second most common form of cancer among women after breast cancer. A new study revealed that a can reduce her ability to fight off the human papilloma virus or HPV which is one of the factor leads to the development of cervical cancer. A publication in the February issue of Annals of Behavioral Medicine, states strong link between stress and cervical cancer.