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美國國家過敏癥和傳染病研究所專家14日表示，歷經數十年的努力，全球衛生機構開始在艾滋病疫苗研制方面取得“重大進展”，使科學家對這類疫苗投放市場的信心倍增。該研究所負責人安東尼?福西說，在過去的幾十年里，科學家對于艾滋病疫苗的研究雖然一直在進行，但努力的方向是否正確并不是太確定。不過，過去幾年間發現的兩個關鍵性研究成果讓科學家們看到了曙光。第一個轉折性事件是，2009年在泰國有16000名被試者參加的艾滋病疫苗測試，結果顯示疫苗對預防艾滋病毒有適度的積極作用，雖然效果還不足以推出成品疫苗，但至少讓人們相信研制出艾滋病疫苗是有可能的。另一個轉折性事件則是國家過敏癥和傳染病研究所專家上周在美國《科學》期刊上發表最新研究成果，稱發現了兩種能夠“綁定”并打擊90%以上艾滋病病毒變異毒株的抗體。上述兩個研究發現讓科學家們研制艾滋病疫苗的信心倍增，但是具體的研究工作可能還需要很長的時間，福西表示，在疫苗出現之前，防控是各國抗擊艾滋病的重點。
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Global health authorities are finally beginning to make significant advances towards a vaccine against AIDS. |
Global health authorities are finally beginning to make significant advances towards a vaccine against AIDS, a top US researcher says.
'Up to a few years ago, even though we have been trying for a couple of decades to develop a vaccine, unsuccessfully, we have not even had a small clue that we were going in the right direction,' Fauci told AFP.
But two key events that have taken place in the past few years have changed that and led to 'significant advances in the development of a vaccine', said Fauci, who is head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).
The first of those key turning-point events was a clinical trial of an HIV/AIDS vaccine, which was conducted in 2009 in Thailand on 16,000 people.
'The results showed a small to modest positive effect on the acquisition of HIV - not good enough to be able to distribute a vaccine, but good enough to tell us that it was a conceptual advance that at least makes us feel now that a vaccine is possible,' Fauci said.
Then, last week, scientists at NIAID published a paper in the journal Science about research that had helped them to identify two antibodies in an HIV-positive individual, which, when put together 'block 90 per cent' of HIV strains, Fauci said.
'What that is telling us is that you can identify the portion of the virus that you would like to use as a vaccine, because we know that when the antibodies bind to that portion, it knocks down the virus,' he said.
The next step will be to try to inject that part of the virus into an individual to produce a protective response against HIV infection, said Fauci in an interview with AFP days before the 18th international conference on AIDS, to be held in Vienna, Austria.
The Thai study and the report in Science have left scientists feeling 'much more confident that ultimately we will have a vaccine' against HIV/AIDS, although it was still impossible to say exactly when that would be, said Fauci.
An AIDS vaccine was probably several years away, which means that in the meantime, the fight against HIV/AIDS must continue to focus on prevention and use tried and true tactics such as condom distribution, male circumcision, blocking mother-to-baby transmission and offering syringe exchange programs, he said.
Ways have to be found, too, to improve access to these preventive measures, especially in developing countries where only 20 per cent of 'populations who would benefit' actually have access to them, he added.
Along with improving access to the preventive methods, Fauci urged global health authorities and governments to continue to work to develop other forms of prevention, such as microbicides.
And he recommended 'treating as many people as we possibly can because we know that when you treat more people, you lessen the probability that they would infect other people.
'You could almost have what we call treatment as a form of prevention,' until a vaccine is finally developed, said Fauci.
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(Agencies)
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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