《新科学家》：攻克艾滋新希望

There is good reason to be optimistic about eliminating HIV/AIDS, says an editorial in New Scientist. 《新科学家》的一篇社论说，有很好的理由对根除艾滋病持乐观。

The strongest hope lies in a potential "cure" based on gene therapy, it says. US company Sangamo Biosciences is developing a gene therapy to emulate the effect of a bone marrow transplant that "vanquished" the virus in an HIV patient. If it works, patients could be cured with a single shot of gene therapy instead of a lifetime of antiretroviral therapy (ART), says the editorial.

它说最大的希望在于一种可能的“治愈”艾滋病的基因疗法。美国的Sangamo生物科学公司正在开发一种模仿骨髓移植效应的基因疗法，从而“击败”艾滋病病毒感染者体内的病毒。该社论说，如果它是可行的，患者不需要终身接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART），而只需接受一针的基因治疗就可痊愈。

And ARTs are themselves a reason for optimism, it adds. According to the WHO, existing ARTs could eliminate HIV in Africa by 2050 — if accompanied by regular testing and quick treatments. Such a long-term programme would be expensive but at US$85 billion, the cost is a fraction of the US$700 billion recently spent to bail out US banks.

它还说，而ARTs本身也是让人感到乐观的理由。根据世界卫生组织，到2050年，现有的ARTs可以在非洲消灭艾滋病——如果伴随着定期测试和快速治疗的话。这种长期项目是昂贵的，但是860亿美元的价格只是近来美国挽救美国银行所用的7000亿美元的一小部分。

And ART prices could fall. GlaxoSmithKline has said it will offer poor countries all its medicines at 25 per cent less than the typical price in the developed world.

而ART的价格可能下降。葛兰素史克公司说它将为穷国以发达国家典型药价25%以下的价格提供其所有药物。

With enough time and money, the editorial concludes we can finally start to rid the world of HIV/AIDS.

这篇社论得出结论说，有了足够的时间和金钱，我们终于可以开始让全世界摆脱艾滋病。