Have you heard of a scientific mark that needed no degrees?
In a world of degrees and certificates, there are people with a vision and mission to make a remarkable change, and through persistence, they conquered the most dreaded fall of man and became champions in fields that only degrees and certificates can land them.
Indian writings of the Vedic period (1500 to 800 BC) called malaria the “king of diseases.” This can definitely be a frightening name for such, but the extent to which it killed people back in the 19th to 20th century was second to none, so it is fair that it had that name. In the 20th century alone, malaria claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives, accounting for 2 to 5 per cent of all deaths (Carter and Mendis, 2002).
Imagine how terrifying it was in those days to have an ailment that had little or no cure; it left no hope for the people.
After so much research and having drugs that these parasites were now resistant to, it was now time to search for something beyond what was strongly held on to.
The story of this search would be incomplete if Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmacologist, were omitted. Tu Youyou was born in 1930 in the city of Ningbo on the east coast of China. Her family stressed education for her and her four brothers, but she had to take a two-year break from studying at 16 because she had contracted tuberculosis. When she returned to school, she knew exactly what she wanted to study: medicine. She wanted to find cures for diseases like the one that had afflicted her. And she made sure that dream wasn’t a pipe dream but a reality.
During the war in North Vietnam, it was discovered that soldiers had contracted malaria, and the single-celled parasite that causes malaria had become resistant to chloroquine, the standard malaria treatment, thereby causing them to lose more soldiers, so they reached out to China to help look for a cure to Malaria to save their soldiers during the war. Then Chairman Mao Zedong launched Project 523 on 23 May 1967 to find a cure for chloroquine-resistant malaria.
Tu Youyou was fortunate to be the head of the team of scientists for Project 523. Here is what makes this more interesting: Tu Youyou had two children she had to leave behind for this course; she was dedicated and determined to be successful at getting a cure for Malaria and generally for the new task ahead in her career.
I know you must think that this cure would be discovered from heavy studies and research from renowned textbooks and scientists, but this is the most shocking part. The team reviewed ancient medical texts to understand traditional Chinese ways of fighting malaria. At that point, over 240,000 compounds had already been tested for use in potential antimalarial drugs, and none had worked. Finally, the team found a reference to sweet wormwood, which had been used in China around 400 AD to treat “intermittent fevers,” a symptom of malaria.
When it was boiled to get it substance it was tested and nothing was cured but Tu Youyou decided to try another pattern of getting out the substance which was a cooler form using the ether-based solvent and when it was finally extracted and tested on animals it worked 100% but again it needed to be tested on humans and Tu volunteered herself and a few of her team members and the results were perfect, it could kill the parasites and cure malaria fully.
The discovery caused a turnaround in the medical field in China at that time. In the following year, Tu’s team distilled the compound’s active ingredient, artemisinin, and shared their findings. While her work was not published in English until 1979, shortly after, in 1981, the WHO, World Bank, and UN each invited her to present her findings on the global stage.
A rare finding, I must say, but that wasn’t all; it took two decades for WHO to recommend Artemisinin as the go-to for malaria treatment. Although Tu was reluctant and didn’t quite accept the praises and award given to her by the Lasker Foundation, which awarded Tu its Clinical Medical Research Award in 2011, calling the discovery of artemisinin “arguably the most important pharmaceutical intervention in the last half-century.”
She didn’t want fame, but alas, fame found her; that’s why we are here, writing and reading about such a rare and amazing discovery.
Tu finally accepted the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine and had a lecture titled ‘Discovery of Artemisinin: A Gift from Traditional Chinese Medicine to the World’. As much as she didn’t want fame, she was clearly proud of her discovery and what it led to at the end of the day.
Everyone, especially a scientist who has put in the extra work to bring about something new that would cause a change in society, deserves a showcase and expects their work to serve as a memorial even when they are gone.
Tu’s story is one of resilience, full of purpose and determination, from her pain to fortune. It is a story that inspires many to see how your pain can birth a hunger in you to see others not go through the same pain or discomfort as you. This is not just about the medical aspect but an inspiring example of going beyond your limits, whether educated or not, with degrees and certificates or not; you can still push beyond limits.
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