英语六级阅读备考：快速阅读练习(7)_大学英语阅读

英语六级阅读备考：快速阅读练习(7)

　　A third class block protease, an enzyme essential for generating functional virus particles. Protease inhibitors are the most effective of the three types of drugs, and AIDS mortality fell dramatically in the US when they were first licensed during the late 1990s. Fusion inhibitors are a newer type of drug that work by stopping HIV from binding with CD4 receptors that it uses to enter cells. Drugs that block another enzyme, integrase , are also under development.

　　AIDS drugs are often administered in combination cocktails of three or more kinds simultaneously, as this helps slow the rate at which HIV develops resistance to drugs. But the virus is able to evolve rapidly and can eventually outpace the drugs if treatment regimens are not followed rigorously.

　　Though drugs are widely available in Western countries, their expense means they are unavailable to the vast majority of AIDS sufferers. International bodies are working towards widening access to treatment in the developing world. Some companies in countries such as India and Thailand are now producing cheap generic copies of drugs.

　　Staggering Toll

　　The economic and social burden of AIDS exerts a great toll on developing nations in addition to that exerted by mortality itself. AIDS is hindering development and leading to negative population growth in some of the most seriously affected nations, such as Botswana.

　　This excessive AIDS mortality is causing a great demographic shift, wiping out young adults in the prime of their lives. This leaves children orphaned, and is destroying workforces and economies. Some predict that 50 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa will have been orphaned by 2010. The labor forces of 38 AIDS ravaged countries will be up to 35% smaller by 2020, because of AIDS.