After 25 years battling the mother of all viruses, have we finally got the measure of HIV? Three developments featured in this i

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问题     After 25 years battling the mother of all viruses, have we finally got the measure of HIV? Three developments featured in this issue collectively give grounds for optimism that would have been scarcely believable a year ago in the wake of another failed vaccine and continuing problems supplying drugs to all who need them.
    Perhaps the most compelling hope lies in the apparent "cure" of a man with HIV who had also developed leukemia. Doctors treated his leukemia with a bone marrow transplant that also vanquished the virus. Now US Company Sangamo Biosciences is hoping to emulate the effect patients being cured with a single shot of gene therapy, instead of taking antiretroviral drugs for life.
    Antiretroviral therapy(ART)is itself another reason for optimism. Researchers at the World Health Organization have calculated that HIV could be effectively eradicated in Africa and other hard-hit places using existing drugs. The trick is to test everyone often, and give those who test positive ART as soon as possible. Because the drugs rapidly reduce circulating levels of the virus to almost zero, it would stop people passing it on through sex. By blocking the cycle of infection in this way, the virus could be virtually eradicated by 2050.
    Bankrolling such a long-term program would cost serious money — initially around $3.5 billion a year in South Africa alone, ring to $85 billion in total. Huge as it sounds, however, it is peanuts compared with the estimated $1.9 trillion cost of the Iraq war, or the $700 billion spent in one go propping up the US banking sector. It also look small beer compared with the costs of carrying on as usual, which the WHO says can only lead to spiraling cases and costs.
    The final bit of good news is that the cost of ART could keep on falling. Last Friday, GlaxoSmithKline chairman Andrew Witty said that his company would offer all its medicines to the poorest countries for at least 25 per cent less than the typical price in rich countries. GSK has already been doing this for ART, but the hope is that the company may now offer it cheaper still and that other firms will follow their lead.
    No one doubt the devastation caused by AIDS. In 2007, 2 million people died and 2.7 million more contracted the virus. Those dismal numbers are not going to turn around soon — and they won’t turn around at all without huge effort and investment. But at least there is renewed belief that, given the time and money, we can finally start riddling the world of this most fearsome of viruses.
According to the passage, the apparent "cure" of the HIV patient who had also developed leukemia would______.

选项 A、make a promising transition from antiretroviral medication to gene therapy
B、facilitate the development of effective vaccines for the infection
C、compel people to draw an analogy between AIDS and leukemia
D、would change the way we look at those with AIDS

答案A

解析 细节题。题意:根据文章,对已经患上白血病的HIV病毒病人表面上治愈将——。根据题干信息可定位到第二段,解题有效信息为最后一句,意思是希望仿效那些仅采用单一基因疗法患者的疗效,取代终身服用抗逆转录病毒的药物。因而答案为A。
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