VOA标准英语2009年-Researchers Say Thailand AIDS Vaccine Has

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
20 October 2009

A group of researchers says an experimental AIDS vaccine¹ trial in Thailand shows the shot has a modest but significant effect -- and that it offers hope for the future. Findings which were presented at an international AIDS vaccine conference in Paris.

 

 
The trial has been hailed as the world's first successful AIDS vaccine trial. But at a press conference in Paris, the researchers says it produced only modest results. A combination vaccine, using strains of HIV common in Thailand, was tested on more than 16,000 Thai men and women aged² 18 to 30 years old, who were HIV-negative.

Half of the overall test group received the doses, while the other 8,000 people in the trial received a placebo³. All the participants were given condoms and counseling for three years. The test found that those given the vaccine showed a 31 percent lower risk of infection than the others.

While initial results from the trial were reported in September, the full results were presented at the AIDS conference in Paris on Tuesday and reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Supachai Rerks-Ngarm of the Department of Disease Control of the Thai Ministry's Public Health Department, was overall leader of the study.

"We are, as you may expect, encouraged by these results and look forward to undertaking⁴ further research to understand what it means, why the vaccine regimen was effective in some volunteers and how we might build upon these results in our collective research," he said.

Critics say the trial's results may have been accidental and whatever benefits the vaccine might produce may have limited effect. Some want an independent review. And the trial's researchers, like Dr. Nelson Michael, of the Walter Reed Institute of Research in the United States, say it's unclear what difference the findings will make for areas like Africa -- where rates of HIV/AIDS are much higher than among the test population and where there are many strains of the virus.

"Among the questions we have now, if we are to go forward in HIV vaccine development, will be the calculation of the transmission intensity⁵? What will be the proper mix in different risk groups, in different subtypes, in different backgrounds if the goal is to reach a vaccine -- one vaccine -- that could work for all people and nations?" he asked.

But the researchers say the findings offer new hope for AIDS research. And Dr. Michael said South Africa, for one, appears interested in conducting a similar study.

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 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

4 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

5 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。