科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)近20年來首個(gè)新的艾滋病毒毒株

科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)近20年來首個(gè)新的艾滋病毒毒株

Since the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was first discovered in the United States nearly four decades ago, several strains have been identified — allowing doctors to better tailor diagnostic testing and drug treatments.

自從近40年前人類免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)在美國首次被發(fā)現(xiàn)以來，已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了幾種毒株，這使得醫(yī)生能夠更好地進(jìn)行診斷測試和藥物治療。

Now, for the first time in 19 years, a new type of HIV has been named, subtype L of the HIV-1 M Group, thanks to researchers with Abbott Laboratories and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. The newly revealed strain, discussed in Wednesday’s issue of Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, is in the same family of subtypes that caused the devastating global pandemic.

現(xiàn)在，19年來第一次，一種新型HIV被命名為L亞型HIV-1 M組，這要感謝雅培實(shí)驗(yàn)室和密蘇里大學(xué)堪薩斯城分校的研究人員。周三出版的《獲得性免疫缺陷綜合癥雜志》(Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome)上討論了新發(fā)現(xiàn)的病毒株，它與引發(fā)全球大流行的病毒株屬于同一亞型。

Scientists such as Abbott’s Mary Rodgers say it’s crucial to understand the various strains to ensure tests for the virus are accurate.

像雅培公司的瑪麗·羅杰斯這樣的科學(xué)家說，了解不同的病毒株對確保病毒檢測的準(zhǔn)確性至關(guān)重要。

“It can be a real challenge for diagnostic tests,” Rodgers, a co-author of the report, told CNN. Her laboratory has analyzed more than 60% of the global blood supply. They’re always looking for new HIV types so they can “accurately detect it, no matter where it happens to be in the world.”

該報(bào)告的合著者羅杰斯告訴CNN：“對于診斷測試來說，這可能是一個(gè)真正的挑戰(zhàn)。”。她的實(shí)驗(yàn)室分析了全球60%以上的血液供應(yīng)他們總是在尋找新的艾滋病病毒類型，這樣他們就能“準(zhǔn)確地檢測出它，不管它在世界上的哪個(gè)地方”。

But that shouldn’t be concerning to that average patient, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the news outlet.

但這與普通病人無關(guān)，國家過敏和傳染病研究所所長安東尼·福西博士告訴新聞媒體。

“There’s no reason to panic or even to worry about it a little bit,” said Fauci, who was not involved in the study. “Not a lot of people are infected with this. This is an outlier.”

沒有參與這項(xiàng)研究的福奇說：“沒有理由恐慌，甚至擔(dān)心一點(diǎn)。感染這種病毒的人不多。這是一個(gè)異常值。”

To be officially declared a subtype, researchers needed at least three proven cases of subtype L. The first two were pinpointed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1983 and 1990. The third suspected case was also drawn from Congo in 2001, but it wasn’t a close enough match to the previous samples to be sure, and thorough genomic testing wasn’t as accessible a decade ago as it is today.

為了正式宣布為一個(gè)亞型，研究人員需要至少三個(gè)已證實(shí)的L亞型病例。前兩個(gè)病例分別于1983年和1990年在剛果民主共和國發(fā)現(xiàn)。第三例疑似病例也是2001年從剛果(金)采集的，但與之前的樣本不太吻合，無法確定，而徹底的基因組檢測在10年前也不像今天那么容易獲得。

Researchers spent years developing new techniques to trace the sample. Rodgers described it as “searching for a needle in a haystack.”

研究人員花了數(shù)年時(shí)間開發(fā)新技術(shù)來追蹤樣本。羅杰斯形容為“大海撈針”。

Doctors don’t yet know how if this strain differs from how others manifest in the body, but are confident that current drug treatments will also be effective on subtype L.

醫(yī)生還不知道這種毒株與其他毒株在體內(nèi)的表現(xiàn)有什么不同，但相信目前的藥物治療也會(huì)對L亞型有效。

“This discovery reminds us that to end the HIV pandemic, we must continue to out think this continuously changing virus and use the latest advancements in technology and resources to monitor its evolution,” wrote study co-author Dr. Carole McArthur of UMKC in a press release.

“這一發(fā)現(xiàn)提醒我們，要結(jié)束艾滋病毒的流行，我們必須繼續(xù)思考這種不斷變化的病毒，并利用技術(shù)和資源的最新進(jìn)展來監(jiān)測它的進(jìn)化，”該研究的合著者、UMKC的Carole McArthur博士在一份新聞稿中寫道。

According to the World Health Organization, around 38 million people worldwide are living with HIV, over two-thirds of which are in Africa. New cases of HIV have fallen more than 37% in almost two decades, but UNAIDS estimates that acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the most advanced stage illness caused by HIV, claimed the lives of some one million in 2018.

根據(jù)世界衛(wèi)生組織的數(shù)據(jù)，全世界約有3800萬人攜帶艾滋病毒，其中三分之二以上在非洲。近20年來，艾滋病新發(fā)病例下降了37%以上，但聯(lián)合國艾滋病規(guī)劃署(UNAIDS)估計(jì)，2018年，艾滋病(由艾滋病引起的最嚴(yán)重的疾病)奪去了約100萬人的生命。