摘要：
    美国比尔·盖茨基金会近日许诺将会捐赠7500万美元用于开发新型肺炎疫苗，此举每年可以使世界各地大量儿童免于死亡。
    The Bill Gates foundation has pledged 75 million US dollars to develop a pneumonia vaccine that could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year.

    美国比尔·盖茨基金会近日许诺将会捐赠7500万美元用于开发新型肺炎疫苗，此举每年可以使世界各地大量儿童免于死亡。

    据法新社4月5日报道，比尔·盖茨基金会在澳大利亚举行的一次会议上公布了向美国PATH健康组织的捐赠决定。据悉，全球每年有将近100万名儿童死于与肺炎有关的各种疾病。肺炎球菌往往会引发肺炎以及能导致患者丧失听力的中耳感染等多种疾病，另外还有可能引起致命的血液循环系统感染以及包括脑膜炎在内的神经系统感染等。

    PATH疫苗部门的负责人约翰·博斯莱戈表示，目前所使用的肺炎疫苗的价格每支高达60美元，对于很多发展中国家来说价格太昂贵了，以至于尽管50％的肺炎死亡都发生在这些地区，但有关疫苗却并未在那里发挥出多大作用。

    博斯莱戈说：“我们希望能将疫苗的价格至少降到每支5美元以下。尽管这对很多发展中国家来说价位仍过高，但它的确是一个切实可行的目标。”博斯莱戈还指出，一种新开发出的疫苗通常需要花上15年时间才能在发达国家内得到普遍使用，这一过程实在是太漫长了，PATH希望借助比尔·盖茨基金会这笔为期5年的捐款来加快疫苗的研制工作。

    The Bill Gates foundation has pledged 75 million US dollars to develop a pneumonia vaccine that could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year.

    The announcement of the grant to US health group PATH was made at a conference in Australia, where experts said nearly a million kids died annually from pneumonia-related illnesses.

    PATH's vaccine chief John Boslego said current vaccines cost up to 60 dollars per dose, far too expensive for many developing countries, and did not work well in developing regions where 50 percent of deaths occur.

    "Wed like to get it down to less than five US dollars at least," Boslego said. "Thats still too expensive for use in many developing countries but its a working target."

    Boslego said the 15 years it normally takes for a newly-developed vaccine to reach people in the developed world was too long, and that PATH wanted to fast-track research with the help of the five-year grant.

    Pneumococcal disease leads to pneumonia and middle-ear infections that can lead to hearing loss, and may also cause life-threatening infections of the bloodstream and nervous system including meningitis.

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