Renowned German cancer scientist Harald zur Hausen says he is overjoyed at
receiving half the Nobel prize for medicine for his work on identifying the
virus that causes cervical cancer.

(EU) HEIDELBERG, GERMANY (OCTOBER 6, 2008) REUTERS -
A German who found the virus that causes cervical cancer and two
French scientists who discovered the AIDS virus were awarded the 2008 Nobel
prize for medicine or physiology on Monday (October 6).
Harald zur Hausen of the University of Dusseldorf and a former
director of the German Cancer Research Centre won half the the prize for work
that went against the conventional wisdom about the cause of cervical cancer.

Luc Montagnier, director of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and
Prevention, and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi of the Institut Pasteur shared the
other half of the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million U.S.
dollars) for discovering the deadly virus that has killed 25 million people
since it was identified in the 1980s.
Zur Hausen was recognised for research based on his idea that human
papilloma virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer, the second most common cancer
among women.
The German scientist, who began his research in the 1970s, searched for
different HPV types, detecting them in cervical cancer biopsies. The virus
types he identified are found in about 70 percent of cervical tumours around
the world.
After being applauded by colleagues, Zur Hausen expressed his delight
at the award.
"The news was such a surprise, I got the call at a quarter to
eleven this morning. People asked me all the time how I felt and what I felt,
I can only say, I was happy and that's it," said Zur Hausen.
An estimated 500,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year and
about 300,000 die from it, mostly in the developing world. Merck & Co and
GlaxoSmithKline produce vaccines protecting against cancer caused by the
virus.
Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each
year. The prizes for achievement in science, literature and peace were first
awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and
businessman Alfred Nobel.
An economics prize was established in 1968.
The Nobel laureate for physics will be announced on Tuesday, chemistry
on Wednesday, literature on Thursday and the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in
Oslo.