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The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to three scientists who developed antiparasitic disease drugs. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura shared the prize for their discovery of the drug ivermectin. It is used in the mass treatment or prevention of two ancient scourges, elephantiasis and river blindness, that have plagued Africa for many centuries.

Elephantiasis, a disease that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, is caused by a parasitic worm, Wuchereria bancrofti, which affects the lymphatics, genitals and breasts. The parasite is transmitted by mosquitoes. The impact of invermectin on the lives of those affected was nothing short of miraculous. Thus… the Nobel Prize award.