VOA慢速英语:The Progress in Fighting AIDS

December 1 marked World Aids Day. People around the world join together to celebrate progress in fighting acquired immune deficiency syndrome, better known as AIDS.
12月1日是世界艾滋病日。世界各地的人们走到一起庆祝在对抗常被称为艾滋病的获得性免疫缺陷综合征上取得的进展。

A new device aims to make identification of AIDS easier and to lower the cost of testing in developing countries. The device is used to count a disease-fighting white blood cells called the CD4 cell.
一种新的设备旨在让发展中国家更容易检测艾滋病并降低检测费用。该装置被用来计算被称为CD4细胞的抗病白细胞总数。

The human immunodeficiency virus -- HIV attacks and destroys CD4 cells making patients unable to fight off infection. Doctors often suggest patients use antiretroviral drugs to help strengthen the body's natural defences for fighting disease. A CD4 cell count can help doctors decide if the drug treatment is necessary or not.
人类免疫缺陷病毒，即艾滋病病毒攻击和破坏CD4细胞，使得患者无法抵抗感染。医生们往往建议患者使用抗逆转录病毒药物帮助增加身体抵抗力以对抗疾病。CD4细胞总数可以帮助医生决定是否有必要采取药物治疗。

The count requires a blood sample and a laboratory equipped to study the cells. This can be difficult to do in some African nations where many people have AIDS but where testing laboratories are in short supply.
统计该细胞总数需要血样和一个相应配备的实验室来研究。这在一些很多人感染但检测实验室短缺的非洲国家很难做到。

Rashid Bashir heads the bioengineering department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He and his team have developed the new device which they call "lab on a chip". It is a 3-centimeter-by-4-centimeter cartridge with all the equipment and chemicals needed to perform a CD4 cell count.
Rashid Bashir负责伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳 - 香槟分校的生物工程系。他和他的团队已经开发出这种被他们称为“芯片上的实验室”的新设备。它是一个3厘米×4厘米的盒子，里面装有进行CD4细胞计数所需的设备和化学品。

"The promise is to bring the lab to the patient rather than the patient to the lab," he said.
他说，“我们承诺将实验室带给病人，而不是将病人带到实验室。”

The device uses just a drop of blood. It separates the white cells from the red cells which carry oxygen. It then counts the CD4 cells immediately.
该设备只需要使用一滴血。它将白细胞从携带氧气的红细胞中分离出来，然后立即统计CD4细胞的总数。

Rashid Bashir has a financial interest in a business called Daktari Diagnostics. The company is working to market the "lab on a chip" and develop a hand-held device to read the results.
Rashid Bashir在一家被称为Daktari Diagnostic的公司中拥有财务利益。该公司正致力于将“芯片上的实验室”推向市场，并开发出一种读取结果的手持设备。

Xuanhong Cheng is a bioengineering professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. She is not involved in Mr Bashir's research, but she says combining processing and identification in one chip is more helpful than other CD4 counters in development.
Xuanhong Cheng是宾夕法尼亚州里哈伊大学的一位生物工程学教授。她没有参与巴希尔先生的研究，但她说，将处理和识别结合到一个芯片上和其它开发中的CD4计数器相比更有帮助。

"A lot of people just look at the detection side. But if the sample has to be processed using very complicated methods, then it's still not quite applicable in resource-limited settings," she said.
她说，“许多人只看到检测方面。但如果血液样本需要经过非常复杂的方法进行处理，那么它就仍然不能完全适用于资源有限的环境。”

Ms Cheng says it will be at least a few years before any of those devices is available on the market. She is also working on developing a CD4 counter.
Cheng女士说，至少还需要几年时间这些设备才能上市。她也致力于开发一种CD4细胞计数器。

"The way that we make a device in a lab is very different from industrial manufacturing processes. So, the process is not as straightforward as some people would think," she said.
她说，“我们在实验室做一种设备的方式和工业制造工艺非常不同。所以，这个过程并不是一些人所想的那么简单。”

There is an urgent need for better CD4 tests, and she says she is happy about the competition.
目前迫切需要更好的CD4检测方法，她说，她对该竞争感到高兴。