经济学人296:艾滋病研究 HIV感染者被治愈了?

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　AIDS research

　　艾滋病研究

　　Cured of HIV?

　　HIV感染者被治愈了？

　　An American child seems to have been

　　美国HIV感染幼童似乎真是如此

　　IN JOURNALISM¹, cynics suggest, three data points are enough for a trend.

　　愤世之士认为，在新闻界里三个数据点就足以确定一条曲线走势。

　　As of March 4th, AIDS researchers hope two might be sufficient.

　　然而在3月4日，艾滋病研究人员却满怀信心地认为，也许两个数据点就足够了。

　　On that day Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins University announced to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, in Atlanta, Georgia, that a patient under her care had been cured of HIV infection.

　　约翰斯·霍普金斯大学的黛博拉·佩尔绍德于当日在佐治亚州亚特兰大的逆转录病毒和机会感染会议上宣布，她负责的一个感染HIV的病人已被治愈。

　　The announcement was hedged with caveats².

　　说是治愈，其实是有一定前提。

　　But the bottom line was clear.

　　但最关键的信息已经很明确了。

　　Dr Persaud thinks her patient, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, has joined Timothy Brown, a man known to many as the Berlin patient, as a human who was once infected with HIV and now no longer is.

　　佩尔绍德博士认为，她的患者—一名两岁半的女婴和柏林病人—蒂莫西·布朗一样，虽然曾经感染了HIV，但现在已经康复了。

　　The girl was born infected because her mother was infected but was not under treatment at the time.

　　这名女婴的母亲是HIV病毒携带者，但她错过了治疗时间，所以该女婴一出生就感染了病毒。

　　She was given standard anti-retroviral drugs almost immediately and for 18 months afterwards.

　　之后女婴立即接受了抗逆转录病毒治疗，治疗持续了18个月。

　　Doctors then lost track of her for five months and when she returned to their attention, they found the virus had vanished.

　　随后的五个月里，医生与女婴失去联系。当她再次返回接受治疗时，医生们发现她体内的病毒已经消失了。

　　Half a year later, despite the fact that she is no longer taking anti-AIDS medicine, there is no sign of HIV having returned.

　　半年后，女婴体内也检测不到HIV的迹象，尽管在这期间内她已停止服用抗艾滋病药物。

　　This is a result of great potential significance.

　　这个结果可能带来重大意义。

　　Mr Brown's cure was effected because his bone marrow³ was destroyed and replaced during a course of treatment for leukaemia.

　　布朗治愈案例之所以成功，是因为他在白血病治疗中，骨髓先被损毁，然后进行了替换。

　　That is hardly a viable⁴ approach for most people.

　　这种途径对大多数人来说几乎不可行。

　　But if HIV infection can be cured with drugs, as Dr Persaud's observations suggest, a whole new line of investigation⁵ opens up.

　　但如果诚如佩尔绍德博士的观察所示，HIV感染者能够通过药物治疗痊愈，那么它就为艾滋病研究打开了一条全新的思路。

　　1.seem to 似乎

　　Financial markets seem to agree.

　　金融市场似乎也证实了这一点。

　　Investors⁶ seem to have noticed.

　　投资者似乎也注意到了。

　　2.hedge with 对冲

　　We came to a hedge with a gate in it.

　　我们来到一个有门的围篱那儿。

　　She thwacked the hedge with her stick in a bad-tem-pered way.

　　她生气地用手杖敲打篱笆。

　　3.infect with 把…传染给…；使充满

　　To attack or infect with canker.

　　使患溃疡以溃疡攻击或感染。

　　In 1997 there were lofty⁷ hopes hong kong would somehow infect the mainland with its relative freedoms.

　　1997年，有些人怀有远大的愿望，即香港的相对自由将对内地产生一些感染。

　　4.return to 返回；重新恢复

　　But we return to this theme shortly.

　　我们将很快回到这个主题。

　　Demanding a return to growth won't cut it.

　　对恢复发展的要求不会对此有所削减。

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 caveats   

警告

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
• As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。 来自互联网

3 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

4 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 lofty   

adj.崇高的，高尚的，高耸的，极高的

参考例句：

• This mountain is lofty.这座山极高。
• His lofty spirit has greatly attracted and activated others.他的崇高精神大大地吸引并且激励了别人。