AIDS: The Future of a Vaccine, and New Warnings for Asia

AIDS: The Future of a Vaccine, and New Warnings for Asia
A study says the number of Asians with H.I.V. could double to 10 million by 2020 unless prevention efforts expand. And scientists meet in the U.S. to discuss the latest setbacks in developing an AIDS vaccine. Transcript of radio broadcast:
30 March 2008


This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

A new study says Asia must do more to prevent AIDS, or the number of people infected with H.I.V. could double by two thousand twenty.

Today about five million people in Asia are living with the virus that causes AIDS.

An estimated three hundred thousand people died of H.I.V.-related diseases in Asia last year. At current rates, that number could rise to almost five hundred thousand.

The United Nations program on H.I.V./AIDS requested the study, led by Indian economist Chakravarthi Rangarajan.

The report says three main groups are driving the spread of AIDS in Asia. One group is sex workers and the men who use them. Another is injection drug users who share needles. And the third group are men who have unprotected sex with other men.

Researchers estimate that as many as ten million women in Asia sell sex. At least seventy-five million men buy on a regular basis. In many Asian countries, these men, and their female partners, represent the largest group of people living with H.I.V.

The study found that AIDS is the most likely cause of death and lost work days for people in Asia between the ages of fifteen and forty-four.

The report says prevention programs can be effective if governments invest at least thirty cents a year per person.

For more than twenty years, scientists have been trying to develop a vaccine to prevent H.I.V. infection. The latest failures came last September. Researchers halted two studies of an experimental AIDS vaccine from the drug company Merck.

Early results showed that the vaccine not only failed to protect, it appeared to put some people at higher risk of infection.

Last Tuesday, several hundred researchers and activists met in Bethesda, Maryland, for a Summit on H.I.V. Vaccine Research and Development. They debated what to do now.

Many of the scientists agreed that experimental vaccines should continue to be tested on humans. But many said there should be less dependence on human trials.

Anthony Fauci is head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which called the meeting. He and others said there should be more tests on animals, to add to discoveries from human studies.

There also were calls for a return to more basic science, first identifying and answering major scientific questions. But Doctor Fauci said the search for an AIDS vaccine will not stop.

And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss.

----------------------------Google Translate

艾滋病：未来的一种疫苗，而新的警告亚洲
一项研究说，有多少亚洲人与人类免疫缺陷病毒可以增加一倍，达到1000万人，到2020年，除非预防努力扩大。与科学家见面，在美国，以讨论最新的挫折，在研制艾滋病疫苗。全文电台广播：
2008年3月30日


这是美国之音特别英语的发展报告。

一项新研究报告说，亚洲必须作出更多努力，防止爱滋病，或有多少人感染了艾滋病毒可能会增加一倍，由2000第二十六。

今天大约有500万人在亚洲被感染了艾滋病毒导致艾滋病。

估计有30.0万人死于与艾滋病毒有关的疾病，在亚洲去年。按现行费率计算，这一数字可能上升到将近五十万。

联合国计划对艾滋病毒/艾滋病的要求学习，率领由印度经济学家chakravarthi Rangarajan的。

报告说， 3个主要团体正在推动爱滋病的蔓延在亚洲。一组是性工作者和男性使用它们。另一种是注射吸毒者共用针头。和第三组是男性，有不安全的性行为，与别的男人。

研究人员估计，有多达100多万亚洲妇女进行性交易。至少75000000男子购买定期进行。在许多亚洲国家来说，这些男人，他们的女性伴侣，代表着最大的一群人，艾滋病毒感染者

这项研究发现，爱滋病是最有可能的死亡原因失去工作日内，为亚洲人民岁之间的15名和44 。

报告说，预防计画，可有效的，如果各国政府至少投资30美分，一年每人。

为20余年来，科学家们一直试图发展一种疫苗，以防止艾滋病毒感染。最新失误来到去年9月。研究人员停止了两项研究的一个试验的艾滋病疫苗从该制药公司默克公司。

初步结果表明，该疫苗不仅没能得到保护，似乎把一些人在较高的感染风险。

上周二，数百名研究人员和积极分子在会见马里兰州贝塞斯达，为首脑会议关于艾滋病毒疫苗的研究和开发。他们讨论如何做。

许多科学家一致认为，实验性疫苗应继续以测试人类。但许多人说，应该少依赖于人体试验。

安东尼福奇是头部的国立卫生研究院过敏与传染病，其中要求会见时在座。他和其他人说，应该有更多的测试，对动物，要补充的发现，从人类的研究。

还有人呼吁为恢复更多的基本科学，首先确定和回答的重大科学问题。但医生福奇说，寻找一种艾滋病疫苗将不会停止。

这也是该美国之音特别英语发展报告撰写的吉尔苔。