VOA慢速英語(yǔ)：“倫敦患者”成為第二位艾滋病治愈者

Second Patient Cleared of the Virus That Causes AIDS

“倫敦患者”成為第二位艾滋病治愈者

A man in London has become the second known HIV-positive adult to be cleared of the virus that causes the disease AIDS. The man received a stem cell transplant three years ago. He was treated with anti-retroviral drugs until about 18 months ago. Now, tests show he has no sign of the HIV virus in his blood.

倫敦一名男子成為已知第二例體內(nèi)艾滋病毒已被清除的艾滋病成年患者。這位男子在3年前接受了干細(xì)胞移植手術(shù)。他接受了抗逆轉(zhuǎn)錄病毒藥物的治療，直到大約18個(gè)月前才停止?，F(xiàn)在，檢測(cè)顯示他的血液中已經(jīng)沒(méi)有艾滋病毒存在的跡象。

"There is no virus there that we can measure. We can't detect anything," said Ravindra Gupta, a professor and HIV scientist who helped lead a team of doctors treating the man.

教授和艾滋病毒科學(xué)家拉文德拉·古普塔(Ravindra Gupta)協(xié)助領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了一個(gè)治療該男子的醫(yī)療團(tuán)隊(duì)，他說(shuō)：“我們(在病人體內(nèi))檢測(cè)不到病毒，找不到任何病毒。”

The patient's name, nationality or age is not public. He is being called "the London patient" because he was treated in the British capital. A similar identification was given to the first known person cleared of HIV infection more than ten years ago, the "Berlin patient." Both men experienced a similar treatment.

這位患者的姓名、國(guó)籍以及年齡都未公開(kāi)，他被稱(chēng)為“倫敦患者”，因?yàn)樗谟?guó)首都倫敦接受了治療。十多年前，醫(yī)生對(duì)已知首例清除艾滋病毒感染的“柏林患者”給出了類(lèi)似的診斷。這兩名男子都接受了類(lèi)似治療。

Experts who study AIDS say the success of the Berlin patient and the London patient is very important. Their experiences show that scientists will one day be able to end AIDS.

艾滋病研究專(zhuān)家表示，“柏林患者”和“倫敦患者”的成功治愈非常重要，他們的經(jīng)歷表明，科學(xué)家終有一天會(huì)消滅艾滋病。

But experts warn that a cure has not been found. The blood treatments the Berlin and London patients had have failed in other patients. The treatments are also too dangerous, expensive and risky to do for the large number of people who already have the virus that causes AIDS. The United Nations estimates that 37 million people worldwide are living with HIV.

但是專(zhuān)家警告稱(chēng)目前尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)治愈方法。“柏林患者”和“倫敦患者”采用的血液治療方法對(duì)其他患者生效了。對(duì)于大量已經(jīng)感染艾滋病毒的人士來(lái)說(shuō)，這種治療方法也過(guò)于危險(xiǎn)、昂貴和冒險(xiǎn)。聯(lián)合國(guó)估計(jì)全球有3700萬(wàn)人感染了艾滋病毒。

The London patient

“倫敦患者”

The medical story of the London patient begins in 2003. At that time, he was found to have the HIV infection.

“倫敦患者”的治療經(jīng)歷始于2003年。當(dāng)時(shí)他被發(fā)現(xiàn)感染了艾滋病毒。

Then, in 2016, he developed a kind of cancer that affects the immune system, the part of the body that fights disease. To treat the cancer, the London patient agreed to a treatment called a stem cell transplant.

然后在2016年，他患上了一種影響免疫系統(tǒng)的癌癥，免疫系統(tǒng)在身體中負(fù)責(zé)對(duì)抗疾病。為了治療癌癥，“倫敦患者”同意接受一種名為干細(xì)胞移植的治療方法。

In the transplant, a healthy donor provides extremely small pieces of his or her body that can create new blood. These are released into the patient's blood system. If the treatment is successful, the patient's body uses the other person's stem cells to build a healthy immune system.

在移植手術(shù)中，健康的捐獻(xiàn)者提供了自己身體中可以創(chuàng)造新血液的極其微小的干細(xì)胞，它們被釋放到患者的血液系統(tǒng)中。如果治療成功，患者的身體就會(huì)使用他人的干細(xì)胞來(lái)建立健康的免疫系統(tǒng)。

But there was something unusual about the person who gave the London patient stem cells. The giver – or donor – had a natural resistance to HIV. In other words, something about this person's body made it impossible for him or her to become infected with the HIV virus. As a result, when the London patient received the stem cells, his immune system changed and he developed a natural resistance to HIV, too.

但是給“倫敦患者”提供干細(xì)胞的這個(gè)人有些異常情況。這位捐獻(xiàn)者對(duì)艾滋病毒具有天然抵抗力。換句話(huà)說(shuō)，此人身體的某些異常使得他(她)很難被艾滋病毒感染。因此，當(dāng)“倫敦患者”接受了這些干細(xì)胞，他的免疫系統(tǒng)發(fā)生了變化，他也對(duì)艾滋病毒產(chǎn)生了天然抵抗力。

The doctors note that the donor's natural resistance to HIV is very rare. Only about 1 percent of people who come from northern European relatives have it. The unusual situation is one reason why this way of treating HIV is not done more often.

醫(yī)生們指出，捐獻(xiàn)者對(duì)艾滋病毒的天然抵抗力非常罕見(jiàn)，只有大約1%的北歐后裔擁有這種天然抵抗力。這種罕見(jiàn)狀況是為何這種艾滋病毒治療手段不常用的原因之一。

But in the case of the London patient, the treatment worked.

但是對(duì)“倫敦患者”而言，治療有效。

Ravindra Gupta notes that the donor's unusual resistance to HIV may not be the only reason the treatment cleared the London patient's infection. He notes that the Berlin patient and the London patient had similar side effects after the treatment. In both cases, the donors' stem cells immediately began to attack the patients' immune cells. The interaction may have helped destroy some of the HIV infection in the patients, Gupta says.

古普塔指出，捐獻(xiàn)者對(duì)艾滋病毒的罕見(jiàn)抵抗力可能不是這種治療方法清除“倫敦患者”體內(nèi)感染的唯一原因。他指出，“柏林患者”和“倫敦患者”在治療后都有類(lèi)似的副作用。在這兩起病例中，捐獻(xiàn)者的干細(xì)胞很快開(kāi)始攻擊患者的免疫細(xì)胞。古普塔表示，這種相互作用可能有助于清除患者的部分艾滋病毒感染。

His team plans to use their findings to explore possibilities for future HIV treatment plans. They will present what they have learned so far in the next days in the journal Nature, and at a medical conference in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington.

他的團(tuán)隊(duì)計(jì)劃利用他們的研究結(jié)果來(lái)探索未來(lái)艾滋病毒治療方法的可能性。他們將在過(guò)幾天的《自然》雜志以及美國(guó)華盛頓州西雅圖市的醫(yī)學(xué)會(huì)議上展示他們迄今為止所了解到的成果。

I'm Jill Robbins.

吉爾·羅賓斯報(bào)道。