Gemäss Ihrer beider Beurteilung müsste Herr Prof. Gallo einem Leid tun. Ein ausführlicher Bericht, wer damals unter welchen Bedingungen in den USA und in Paris geforscht hat, findet sich in dem Buch (Recherchierjournalismus) “And the Band played on. Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic” von Randy Shilts, seelig. Ich hatte das Glück, Dr. D. Francis, seinerzeit Retrovirologe am CDC,in einem einwöchigen Kurs zu dem Thema, zu begegnen. Das Buch wurde sogar verfilmt. Die entscheidenden Schritte für die Isolation des Virus wurden von Frau Dr.Françoise Barré-Sinoussi geleistet – da sich HIV in Zellkulturen anders verhielt als HTLV (Virus, der von Prof. Gallo untersucht wurde). Vgl. auch Schweiz. Med. Forum 2009;9(10):218 resp. Lancet 2008;372: 1373,1374,1377.
Wenn Sie spannende “wissenschaftliche” Unterhaltung und kritische Filme lieben, kann ich “And the Band played on” nur empfehlen. Kam leider nicht früher dazu, zu antworten. Wenn Sie den Film gesehen haben, ist vielleicht auch klar, wieso Prof. Gallo nicht für den HIV den Nobelpreis erhalten hat, ohne seine sonstigen wissenschaftlich herausragenden Leistungen schmälern zu wollen.

Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Dr. med.Carlos Quinto MPH

Question: Dr Robert Gallo was excluded from this year’s award. Was it that he was not nominated? Was it that you concluded that he did not have a part in the discovery of HIV?
Answer: No-one is excluded (your word!) from any award any year. Dr Robert Gallo is an excellent researcher who has made many important contributions to science.

– Who were nominated or not, we are inhibited to disclose according to our Statutes.

– Regarding discoveries recognized, our Statutes state that they must be published or else reported to the scientific world. Otherwise they are not official and not available to evaluations. Therefore, regarding any discovery we always scrutinize the authors of the original publications.

– The present Awardees are three of the authors.

– Of course, we realize that non-authors or generally available concepts might also be contributing in one way or another each year, but for general recognition as an official discoverer it is difficult to include non-authors on the original publications of new discoveries.

Question: Why wasn’t co-discoverer of HIV Dr Robert Gallo awarded the prize also?
Answer: Please see the previous answer.

Question: Why no recognition of Dr Gallo for his great and important HIV work? I am wondering why Dr Robert Gallo was not recognized for his contribution on HIV research. Although he may not be the first one to discover the virus, he is the first one to link HIV to AIDS. I believe the name of HIV was proposed by his group as well. I am very disappointed with the unfair selection process this year.
Answer: Please see the previous answer. Also, please notice that the present award was recognizing the discovery of the virus. We did not quote the discovery (but also not denying it) as being detection of the link between the virus and the disease, neither as recognizing contributions to HIV research in general, or to the naming of the virus. We are sorry if you are disappointed, but we cannot satisfy all opinions, only recognize what we consider as a decisive step, and the discovery of the virus is a decisive step, as quoted.