墨西哥建造伽马射线天文台即将开放（在线收听）

墨西哥建造伽马射线天文台即将开放

Ebola has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people in West Africa. Since last summer, researchers have rushed to get anti-Ebola vaccines into clinical trials. While it's too early to say that any of the potential vaccines work, some scientists say they are seeing strong results from some of the studies.

It's ironic...just as the Ebola epidemic in West Africa seems to be waning, clinical trials of potential vaccines are underway there.

有讽刺意味的是，就在西非的埃博拉疫情似乎开始消退之时，这里正在对疫苗进行临床试验。

A vaccine candidate is currently being tested in Guinea, where the Ebola virus is still active. Those likely to get the vaccine are medical workers and people who have been exposed to the virus.

一种备选疫苗目前在几内亚进行试验，该国的埃博拉病毒仍很活跃。有可能得到该疫苗的是那些接触过该病毒的医疗工作者等人。

Liberia has so few new Ebola cases that a clinical vaccine trial started there may be continued in Sierra Leone or Guinea.

利比里亚的埃博拉新病例很少了，所以该国开始的临床疫苗试验可能会转移到塞拉利昂或几内亚继续进行。

At Emory University in the U.S., an investigational vaccine was given to an American doctor who may have been exposed to the virus at an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone. Dr. Mark Mulligan reported the effects of the vaccine in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

在美国艾莫利大学，一种试验疫苗被发给一名在塞拉利昂埃博拉治疗中心接触过该病毒的美国医生。马克·穆里根博士在《美国医学协会》杂志上报告了该疫苗的效果。

“We saw strong responses from the innate immune system, the immediate responses, the first defenders in our body, and also from the subsequent antibodies and T cells that we want a vaccine to produce," said Mulligan.

“我们看到人体的第一道防线—先天免疫系统对此当即产生强烈的反应，随后的抗体和T细胞也有反应，我们希望能制造出疫苗来。”

The patient did not develop the Ebola virus, and he may not have been infected, but the immune response is what doctors hoped to see.

这位患者没有发展成埃博拉病毒，他可能没有感染上，但其免疫系统的反应是医生们希望看到的。

Dr. Thomas Geisbert was one of the researchers who developed this potential vaccine. Despite reports that researchers are closing in on an effective vaccine, he says there's still a lot of work to do.

托马斯博士是参与开发这种试验疫苗的研究者之一，尽管有报道称研究者们即将研制出有效疫苗，但他说还有很多工作要做。

"A lot of these different vaccines and treatments were developed against one species of Ebola, and a particular strain of that species, so there are five different species of Ebola virus. Three of those cause disease and morbidity, mortality in man," said Geisbert.

“我们开发出很多疫苗和治疗方法来对付埃博拉的一个变种，这个变种的某个特别的品种，目前存在五种埃博拉病毒，其中三种能在人身上导致疾病和死亡。”

Dr. Geisbert says a vaccine that might work against the Zaire Ebola virus, the species circulating in west Africa, might not work against against another type of deadly Ebola virus.

托马斯博士说，目前对流行在西非的Zaire埃博拉病毒可能有效的疫苗，可能对另一种致命埃博拉病毒产生不了效果。

But, if the vaccines are proven to work, Dr. Jesse Goodman says they could still be used in West Africa.

但如果这些疫苗试验有效，杰西·古德曼博士说它们可以在西非得到使用。

"It could benefit people if this outbreak went the wrong way again. And, even more importantly, these could be incredibly important tools for future outbreaks," said Goodman.

“如果疫情再次爆发，这些疫苗就能让人们受益，更重要的是，这些疫苗将是未来疫情爆发时的重要工具。”

The results of the vaccine trial in Guinea could be available in July.

几内亚疫苗试验将在7月份得到结果。