A trio of trailblazing scientists from Ireland, Japan and China have bagged one of science's most prestigious prizes, the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The three all made discoveries which allowed doctors to fight two of the developing world's most insidious plagues, roundworm and malaria.

Youyou Tu from China was awarded half of the prize money for her work on malaria, while Satoshi Ōmura from Japan and William Campbell who hails from Ireland were awarded the other half for their contributions towards treating roundworm.

Together they have worked tirelessly to transform the lives of many millions of people in places where parasitic diseases are most rife. Malaria kills an estimated 584,000 people each year, but with effective treatments being made available the number of deaths has fallen by 47% globally since the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, infections caused by roundworms include river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, the latter of which affects over 100 million people and can cause swelling and severe disability.

“The two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the Nobel committee said. “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”

Tu was assigned to study malaria during China's cultural revolution, when the devastating disease, carried by mosquitoes, was killing more North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War than the American military forces were. After observing the disease first hand in Hainan province, she returned to Beijing to study traditional Chinese remedies on fighting the illness – more than 2,000 of them in total.

In the end, a recipe which had been written around 1,600 years ago provided a vital clue. It was titled “Emergency Prescriptions Kept Up One’s Sleeve” and described a preparation of sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) to treat the disease.

After refining the process, Tu began studies on humans in 1972, and since proving effective, it has become one of medicine's most important tools for fighting the disease.

Fellow scientists Ōmura and Campbell were awarded the prize for their discovery of avermectin, versions of which have significantly reduced cases of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, caused by roundworm.

Following the same path as Tu, Omura's breakthrough came from the study of natural products. He grew bacteria in soil samples which in turn produced their own anti-microbial compounds, including Streptomyces avermitilis, a strain which proved very effective.

Campbell took up the thread of his work and established that the strain was very effective against parasites affecting animals, and refined the drug into a new form which served to wipe out parasitic infections in humans just as efficiently.

The Nobel Prize for Medicine was the first of the Nobel Prizes to be announced this year; winners in the Physics, Chemistry and Peace categories are yet to be announced, but there's not too long to wait because the announcement is expected on Monday 12th October. The Literature prize is expected to be announced on Thursday 8th October.