2015职称英语(汉英)Tracking Down HIV 追踪艾滋病毒

Tracking Down HIV 追踪艾滋病毒

In the summer of 1980, a patient had a strange purplish spot removed from below his ear. It was Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare form of skin cancer. This patient also had lymph node swelling and exhaustion. In November 1980, a Los Angeles immunologist examined a young man who had diseases linked to immune system malfunctions. The doctor had a T-cell count taken of the patient’s blood. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that plays a key role1 in immune responses. The patient had no helper T-cells.

By the end of 1980, 55 Americans were diagnosed with infections related to immune system breakdown; four had died. A year later the death toll was 74. Intravenous drug users had T-cell abnormalities. People who had received blood transfusions showed symptoms of immune system breakdown. By July 1982, 471 cases of the disease, now called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), had been reported; 184 people had died.

In April 1984, American virologist Dr. Robert Gallo isolated the pathogen, or disease producer, responsible for2 AIDS. He called it HTLV-III. In Paris, Dr. Luc Montagnier identified a virus he called LA V. An international panel of scientists determined that both men had found the same virus. It became known as Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Blood banks began screening for HTV in 1985, but by then about 29,000 people had been infected through blood transfusions. Some 12,000 hemophiliacs had contracted HIV through blood-clotting products. By 1995, 477,900 Americans had AIDS; 295,500 had died.

In 1996, researchers announced drugs that reduced HIV in infected people. Today scientists are testing vaccines and believe that if HIV can be suppressed, then perhaps it can be eradicated3, but it is still a race against time.

1980年的夏天，一名患者将一颗略带紫色的斑点从其耳下处移除。这种斑点是一种极其罕见的皮肤癌，被称为“卡波西”肉瘤。该患者同时还患有淋巴结肿大及衰竭。1980年11月．洛杉矶的一名免疫学家对一名年轻男子进行了检查，并发现其病症与其免疫系统失常有关。该医生对该患者的血液进行了T细胞(胸腺衍生细胞)计数检测。T细胞是白细胞的一种，在人体免疫机能中发挥关键作用。该患者血液中并未发现有益T细胞。至1980年年底，共有55名美国人被确诊感染这种与免疫系统崩溃相关联的病症，其中4名患者死亡。一年之后，．死亡人数变为74人。接受了静脉药物注射的患者，出现了T细胞异常的现象。接受输血的患者出现7免疫系统故障的症状。据报道。至1982年7月．这种被称为“获得性免疫力缺陷综合征”的患者，已经增加至47l例，其中184人已经死亡。在1984年的4月，病毒学家罗伯特·加洛博士成功分离出了艾滋病的致病病原体。他将其称为“人体T细胞白血病病毒”。在巴黎，吕克·蒙塔尼耶博士发现了一种其称为“淋巴结相关疾病”的病毒。经过一国际科学家组织鉴定，二人发现的为同一种病毒。该病毒开始被人们知晓为“人体免疫缺损病毒”(即艾滋病)血库，于1985年开始对其存血进行艾滋病审查，但是到那时，已有大约29 000名患者通过血液传播而感染上了艾滋病。其中约有12 000名血友病患者，其血液凝块一定程度上缩小了艾滋病血液的筛除范围。截至1995年，患艾滋病的美国人人数已高达477 900人，其中295 500人死亡。在1996年，研究人员宣称已研制出数种能够降低艾滋病对患者伤害的药品。今天，科学家通过一系列测试，发现艾滋病是可以抑制的，而且进而认为根治艾滋病也是有可能的，但这一目标仍需时日。