VOA常速英语2008年-AIDS Researchers Look For a New Direction

By Kent Klein
Washington
26 March 2008

AIDS researchers are discussing where to go next, after a potential vaccine¹ failed in two human trials several months ago. As VOA's Kent Klein reports, numerous approaches were considered at the Summit on HIV Vaccine Research and Development.

Several hundred HIV/AIDS scientists and advocates discussed and debated how to move forward with AIDS research. The main question was whether to continue with clinical trials of experimental vaccines² on humans, and if so, how much to rely on those trials.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is a leading voice for AIDS research, and the Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health's Allergy³ and Infectious Diseases area, which sponsored the meeting on Tuesday. He said that despite recent disappointments in efforts to develop a vaccine, research toward that end will continue.

"So the idea about stepping back and pausing and seeing if you have the right balance between fundamental answering of questions that are critical versus⁴ moving ahead with trying to develop a countermeasure, be that a drug or a vaccine or a diagnostic, is a natural evolution of the path towards a vaccine," he said.

Two human trials of an experimental AIDS vaccine were stopped late last year, when it appeared that the drug not only failed to protect against the disease, but in some cases put people at higher risk of getting it. Since then, support for clinical studies of existing experimental AIDS vaccines has diminished.

While many of the experts at the summit agreed that clinical studies should continue, many researchers urged reducing the dependence⁵ on human trials. Dr. Anthony Fauci and others recommend supplementing human trials with increased drug trials on animals, specifically lower primates⁶.

"There is good discovery research that you can get out of an animal model, just as there's good discovery research that you can get out of clinical research," he said.

Dr. Mark Conners is a senior clinical investigator⁷ at the National Institutes of Health. While he concurs⁸ that the recent failures in clinical trials set the cause of finding a vaccine back considerably⁹, he believes there are other avenues to be pursued.

"I'm not necessarily optimistic about some of the products we currently have, but I am, longer-term, optimistic that with the proper immune correlates, or, even, ultimately, if that fails, without them, that the immune response can control HIV. We have several natural examples of that," he said.

Still, the scientists seemed to agree that an AIDS vaccine is not likely soon and that it's important to train future researchers to carry on their work.

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 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。

3 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

6 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

7 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

8 concurs   

同意（concur的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Gilardi concurs that the newly compiled data is a powerful tool. 吉拉迪认同新汇集的数据是一个强有力的工具。
• Curtin concurs that it's been a blessing and a reward. 柯廷也同意这是一种祝福和奖励。

9 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。