VOA慢速英语：“伦敦患者”成为第二位艾滋病治愈者

Second Patient Cleared of the Virus That Causes AIDS

“伦敦患者”成为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.

伦敦一名男子成为已知第二例体内艾滋病毒已被清除的艾滋病成年患者。这位男子在3年前接受了干细胞移植手术。他接受了抗逆转录病毒药物的治疗，直到大约18个月前才停止。现在，检测显示他的血液中已经没有艾滋病毒存在的迹象。

"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.

教授和艾滋病毒科学家拉文德拉·古普塔(Ravindra Gupta)协助领导了一个治疗该男子的医疗团队，他说：“我们(在病人体内)检测不到病毒，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.

这位患者的姓名、国籍以及年龄都未公开，他被称为“伦敦患者”，因为他在英国首都伦敦接受了治疗。十多年前，医生对已知首例清除艾滋病毒感染的“柏林患者”给出了类似的诊断。这两名男子都接受了类似治疗。

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.

艾滋病研究专家表示，“柏林患者”和“伦敦患者”的成功治愈非常重要，他们的经历表明，科学家终有一天会消灭艾滋病。

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.

但是专家警告称目前尚未发现治愈方法。“柏林患者”和“伦敦患者”采用的血液治疗方法对其他患者生效了。对于大量已经感染艾滋病毒的人士来说，这种治疗方法也过于危险、昂贵和冒险。联合国估计全球有3700万人感染了艾滋病毒。

The London patient

“伦敦患者”

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

“伦敦患者”的治疗经历始于2003年。当时他被发现感染了艾滋病毒。

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，他患上了一种影响免疫系统的癌症，免疫系统在身体中负责对抗疾病。为了治疗癌症，“伦敦患者”同意接受一种名为干细胞移植的治疗方法。

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.

在移植手术中，健康的捐献者提供了自己身体中可以创造新血液的极其微小的干细胞，它们被释放到患者的血液系统中。如果治疗成功，患者的身体就会使用他人的干细胞来建立健康的免疫系统。

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.

但是给“伦敦患者”提供干细胞的这个人有些异常情况。这位捐献者对艾滋病毒具有天然抵抗力。换句话说，此人身体的某些异常使得他(她)很难被艾滋病毒感染。因此，当“伦敦患者”接受了这些干细胞，他的免疫系统发生了变化，他也对艾滋病毒产生了天然抵抗力。

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.

医生们指出，捐献者对艾滋病毒的天然抵抗力非常罕见，只有大约1%的北欧后裔拥有这种天然抵抗力。这种罕见状况是为何这种艾滋病毒治疗手段不常用的原因之一。

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

但是对“伦敦患者”而言，治疗有效。

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，捐献者对艾滋病毒的罕见抵抗力可能不是这种治疗方法清除“伦敦患者”体内感染的唯一原因。他指出，“柏林患者”和“伦敦患者”在治疗后都有类似的副作用。在这两起病例中，捐献者的干细胞很快开始攻击患者的免疫细胞。古普塔表示，这种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.

他的团队计划利用他们的研究结果来探索未来艾滋病毒治疗方法的可能性。他们将在过几天的《自然》杂志以及美国华盛顿州西雅图市的医学会议上展示他们迄今为止所了解到的成果。

I'm Jill Robbins.

吉尔·罗宾斯报道。