VOA标准英语2015--为何仍需研发治疗艾滋病新药物

Why HIV Cure is Still Needed 为何仍需研发治疗艾滋病新药物

With the success of antiretroviral drugs in treating HIV/AIDS, many infected people are able to lead more normal lives. But treatment is not a cure. A renewed call for a cure was made at the "Why HIV Cure is Still Needed" in Vancouver, Canada.

Nicholas Chomont focuses much of his research on finding where the AIDS virus hides in the body. The University of Montreal associate microbiology professor said even without a cure things are much better today than they used to be.

“Since the isolation¹ of HIV in 1983, we have better weapons to fight HIV infection. And we have better drugs, more drugs. And if you compare the efficacy of these drugs in the pre-antiretroviral therapy era to now, clearly they show higher potency² and reduced toxicity⁴. And more importantly, the number of pills that people living with HIV have to take per day has been considerably⁵ reduced. And this is clearly a great scientific success.”

He said infected people are living longer and healthier lives.

“If you look at the expected survival of a 20 year old person living with HIV in a high income country between 1995 and now, you would see this dramatic increase in the number of years people can expect to live with HIV drugs. And this life expectancy⁶ is actually quite close to one you would see in the uninfected populations,” he said.

Chomont asked with such success why is a cure needed?

“Well, I think there are different answers to that question. So, first, antiretroviral therapy does not eradicate⁷ the virus. It greatly reduces the amount of virus in the body, but the virus is still there. Because the virus is still there other issues either appear or persist,” he said.

One of those issues is not a medical one.

“The first one,” he said, “is that the criminalization and the stigmatization⁸ of people living with HIV still remain in 2015 in most of the countries in the world. People living with HIV face many issues -- criminalization, stigmatization in their family and at work. For that first reason a cure for HIV is something that we all want to develop.”

Next, while, ART, or antiretroviral therapy, is a huge success, health officials said millions who need it still cannot get it.

Chomont said, “The third reason why we need to do better than ART is that those treatments are actually quite toxic³. And, as you know, these drugs have to be administered indefinitely for your lifetime. And we know that they may induce some side effects. More importantly we don’t know what are the long term effects of these drugs for more than 20 years. So, if you need a fourth reason for why we need a cure, I’m going to give you one more. And this is money.”

Chomont uses Canada, as an example, saying, “HIV generates enormous costs in terms of human suffering, job loss and the financial burden on the health care system.” And people who interrupt their drug treatment, for whatever reason, see HIV make a strong comeback.

A cure, he said, would eliminate these problems. But a cure means finding where HIV hides and eliminating it. It’s known that reservoirs can be found in the brain, lymph nodes, the gut⁹ and genital tract¹⁰. Some reservoirs are active, while others are latent or silent, waiting for the opportunity to become active.

They can also hide at the cellular¹¹ level, especially in what are called memory cells. These white blood cells are part of the immune system. They either directly attack bacteria or viruses or release antibodies.

He said the three main barriers to a cure are HIV-persistent tissues -- latent reservoirs of infected cells that are indistinguishable from uninfected cells -- and diverse types of latent reservoirs.

“There are two main types of cure that I [have] proposed. The first one is the sterilizing¹² cure. This is the ideal model in which you would eradicate all trace of virus from the body. The second type of cure, which is probably more realistic, is what we call, the functional¹³ cure. And in that case you would probably also try to reduce the size of the reservoir significantly and then boost the immune system so it can control some events of activation¹⁴ from the latent reservoir.”

Professor Chomont said when antiretroviral therapy is administered soon after infection it can dramatically reduce reservoirs of infected cells. But for the majority of infected people who do not receive the drugs early, new ART strategies are being developed.

One is called the “shock and kill” approach. This would, in a sense, wake-up dormant¹⁵ or latent HIV and cause it to attack cells. But in doing so, it becomes susceptible¹⁶ to antiretroviral drugs. At the same time, the strategy must include a way to boost the immune system so it too can attack the virus.

Until a cure is found ART remains¹⁷ the main weapon against HIV, with new studies showing the earlier it’s given the better. Research also continues on an HIV vaccine¹⁸. Neither a vaccine nor a cure is expected soon.

1 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

2 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

3 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

4 toxicity   

n.毒性，毒力

参考例句：

• The hoarse grunt or squeal is characteristic of toxicity.嘶哑的哼声和叫声是中毒的特征。
• Dieldrin is related to aldrin,and its toxicity to earthworms is similar.狄氏剂与艾氏剂有关，对蚯蚓的毒性是相似的。

5 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。

6 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

7 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

8 stigmatization   

n.描绘，陈述

参考例句：

9 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

10 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

11 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

12 sterilizing   

v.消毒( sterilize的现在分词 )；使无菌；使失去生育能力；使绝育

参考例句：

• The nurse is sterilizing the surgical instruments. 护士在把外科手术器具消毒。 来自辞典例句
• By testing, steam is the ble sterilizing method for herbal medicine. 这些方法难以保证药性，或有残留，要不然就是费用昂贵。 来自互联网

13 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

14 activation   

n. 激活，催化作用

参考例句：

• A computer controls the activation of an air bag.电脑控制着气囊的启动。

15 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

16 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

18 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。