VOA慢速英语2009年-Health Report - South Africa Tests AIDS Va

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Thirty-six volunteers in South Africa will test the safety of an African-developed vaccine¹ against H.I.V. The tests are the first step in human clinical trials of two vaccine candidates developed at the University of Cape² Town.

These experimental AIDS vaccines³ are the first from Africa to reach testing in people. The National Institutes of Health in the United States provided assistance. Testing with twelve people began earlier this year in Boston, Massachusetts.

South Africa has more than five million people infected with H.I.V., the largest number of any country.
　
Dr. Danielle Crida shows how an experimental AIDS vaccine would be tested at a health center near Cape Town

South Africa launched the tests last week as the International AIDS Society held a conference in Cape Town. Other human trials of possible vaccines are taking place around the world. Scientists hope to get some results later this year.

But during last week's conference, experts reported the first decrease in international financing for AIDS vaccine research. They say funding dropped from about nine hundred thirty million dollars in two thousand seven to eight hundred seventy million last year.

Also at the conference, scientists presented the latest findings about new mothers infected with H.I.V. Two studies showed ways in which anti-H.I.V. drugs could permit infected women to breastfeed their newborns with less risk of passing the virus to them. The research was done in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Zambia.

In one study, infected mothers began to take three anti-H.I.V. drugs while breastfeeding for up to six months. In a second study, the babies were given medicine, instead of their mothers. The babies received one drug every day during six months of breastfeeding.

The researchers said both methods greatly reduced the risk of H.I.V. infection.

Laura Guay is vice⁴ president of research at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which supported the research. Doctor Guay says the problem in sub-Saharan Africa is the limited availability of anti-retroviral drugs.

LAURA GUAY: "We know only about thirty-three percent of women have access to a program that actually has services in place to prevent mother-to-child transmission. So the first challenge is, how do we reach all the women who do not have access to a prevention program?"

In other new research, a study has found that circumcision does not decrease the risk that H.I.V. positive men will infect women. The findings, from Uganda, are in the medical journal, The Lancet.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁵. I'm Steve Ember.

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。