Herald zur Hausen Nobel Prize Winner - Essay Example

In 1969, he became regular teaching and researching professor at the University of Wurzburg, and worked at the Institute for Virology. In 1972, he joined the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In 1977, he moved on to the University of Freiburg as the head of the department of virology and hygiene. (nobelprize.org)Harald Zur Hausen has been honored with Nobel Prize for discovering the HPV vaccine. The specific field of Harald Zur Hausen of research is the erudition of oncoviruses.

In 1976, he published the hypothesis that the human papillomavirus plays a significant role in the cause of cervical cancer. Mutually with his coworkers, he identified HPV16 and HPV18 in cervical cancers in 1983-4. This research directly made possible the development of a vaccine that was launched in 2006. He is also attributed with the discovery of the virus causing genital warts (HPV 6) and a monkey lymphotropic polyomavirus that is a close relative to a newly discovered human Merkel cell polyomavirus, as well as methods to immortalize cells with Epstein-Barr virus and to persuade replication of the virus using phorbol esters.

His work on papillomaviruses and cervical cancer received an immense deal of scientific censure on initial presentation but afterward was confirmed and extended to other high-risk papillomaviruses. (The Gairdner Foundation) He made HPV16 and HPV18 available to the scientific society. Vaccines were eventually developed that provide greater than 95 % protection or even more from infection by the high-risk HPV16 and HPV18 types. The need for surgery and the worldwide burden of cervical cancer can be reduced by the vaccine.

The vaccine Gardasil is suggested for girls and women between the age of 11 and 26. It protects against cancer and genital warts which is the most frequently transmitted disease through sex. The vaccine is costly but its widespread would save more in health expenses. After the government introduces a catch-up crusade the vaccine would be easily available like all other vaccines in routine, but it should be given to the girls before they first have sex. But the benefits of Gardasil could be made dull by a multifarious distill of practical, financial, and religious consideration.

On the practical side, Gardasil is supposed to be given three shots over six months. While pediatricians and government health agencies have long been successful in having parents stick to complex vaccination programs for infants because older children are more intricate to handle.