Jewish Invention Myths: The Hepatitis B Antigen
Sometimes ‘Jewish Invention Myths’ are a little blurred but also show the political nature of the Nobel Prize. The discovery of the Hepatitis B antigen is one such example.
Let’s begin as we always do by quoting the jewish claims.
‘MNews’ wites that:
‘Baruch Samuel Blumberg – Antigen for hepatitis
Baruch Blumberg received a Nobel Prize for "discovering new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases." Blumberg identified the hepatitis B virus and also developed the diagnostic test and vaccine to tackle the virus.’ (1)
While Slava Bazarsky merely states that Baruch Blumberg discovered the Hepatitis antigen. (2)
There is an element of truth in this in that Blumberg did indeed ‘discover’ the antigen for Hepatitis B in 1963 while he was studying liver cancer in Australian aboriginals which resulted in the antigen being known as the ‘Australian antigen’. (3) However, the link between Hepatitis B and liver cancer had been postulated as early as 1908 and the difference between Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B known by the 1940s and 1905s. (4)
It wasn’t Blumberg who demonstrated the link between the ‘Australian antigen’ and Hepatitis B but rather a non-jew named Alfred Prince who did so in 1964 (5) which Blumberg subsequently confirmed in his own work that same year as well as in 1967, while Prince went on to prove that the ‘Australian antigen’ was actually part of ‘Serum Hepatitis’ (aka Hepatitis B) in 1968 (the basis of the Hepatitis B vaccine later developed by Blumberg). (6)
So, while Blumberg discovered the ‘Australian antigen’; he didn’t actually prove that Hepatitis B and the ‘Australian Antigen’ were linked let alone part of each other. Indeed Blumberg himself credited his own ‘discovery’ on sheer luck and I’d say the priority also being assigned to him is also a matter of some luck. (7)
The reason that Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1976 seems to have largely been because he used Prince’s research to create a viable vaccine for Hepatitis B in 1969 which was then taken on by pharmaceutical giant Merck in 1975 which then triggered his Nobel Prize. While Alfred Prince’s central role was completely ignored. (8)
Why ignore Prince but champion Blumberg?
It seems to be related to the fact that Blumberg was quite the self-publicist and Prince was not so thus unfortunately Prince’s work was largely related to the footnotes of history while Blumberg’s was placed front and centre.
So, no; the Hepatitis B Antigen even though found by a jew through self-described ‘luck’ is not a ‘jewish invention’ or a ‘jewish discovery’ but rather a non-jewish one.
References
(1) https://mnews.world/en/news/the-great-jews-and-their-inventions
(2) https://slavaguide.com/blog/jewish-inventors-and-jewish-inventions
(3) Colin Howard, Arie Zuckerman, 1979, ‘Hepatitis Viruses of Man’, 1st Edition, Academic Press: Boston, p. 16
(4) Anna Kramvis, Ioannis Mammas, Demetrios Spandidos, 2023, ‘Exploring the optimal vaccination strategy against hepatitis B virus in childhood (Review)’, Biomedical Reports, Vol. 19, No. 1 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10293880/)
(5) Howard, Zuckerman, Op. cit., pp. 17-18
(6) Ibid., p. 18
(7) Kramvis, Mammas, Spandidos, Op. Cit.
(8) Ibid.