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Gel concept to combat AIDS 凝膠概念對抗愛滋
◎ 魏國金
A vaginal gel could be developed within four years to help protect women against infection by virus that causes AIDS, the UN official spearheading the fight against HIV/AIDS said.
一種陰道凝膠可望於四年內研發出來，裨益保護女性免於感染引發愛滋病的病毒，領軍與愛滋病奮戰的聯合國官員說。
Peter Piot, director general of UNAIDS, told journalists that the prospect of a gel, in the form of a disinfectant, offered greater hope in the foreseeable future than a vaccine. "We are still nowhere," Piot commented on vaccine development.
聯合國愛滋病規劃署執行主任皮奧特告訴記者，在可預見的未來，一種作為消毒劑的凝膠，其前景將比疫苗更有希望。「我們至今毫無所成，」皮奧特對疫苗的發展提出見解時說。
Two human trials of candidate vaccines are currently underway in Tailand and the United States and more research is going on. "Where we have better hope, and it is something at least as important is a microbicide, that would killed the virus during sexual intercourse," he added. "Conceptually it's straightforward," Piot said. Asked when the product, envisioned as a gel, could appear, Piot said: "In the most optimistic scenario three years or four years."
兩項候選疫苗的人體試驗目前正在泰國與美國進行，而更多的研究也在持續中。「我們抱以更大希望，而且至少同等重要的是微生物除菌劑，它能在性交中殺死病毒，」他補充說。「在概念上，它是簡單直接的，」皮奧特表示。當被詢及這個以凝膠為構想的產品何時會面世，皮奧特說：「最樂觀的景況下，三或四年。」
新聞辭典
disinfectant: 殺毒劑、殺菌劑。
in the foreseeable future: 在可預見的未來。
candidate vaccines: 候選疫苗，即是有待改進、進一步臨床測試的疫苗。
intercourse: 性交、交媾。
envision: 構想、設想、想像。Can you envision the consequences of climate warming in 50 years?（你能設想五十年後氣候暖化的結果嗎？）
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