VOA标准英语2011--Scientists Closer to Developing Meningit

（单词翻译）

Scientists Closer to Developing Meningitis Vaccine¹

Scientists may be on track to develop a vaccine for the most common strain of meningitis, which has so far resisted an effective vaccine.
Meningitis is a serious disease caused by an inflammation of the lining² that protects the brain and spinal³ cord. Vaccines⁴ exist for most varieties of the bacteria that cause epidemics⁵ of the disease.
The disease can be fatal, even when treatment with antibiotics⁶ begins quickly. Those who survive can have permanent brain damage. So vaccination⁷ is important.
Vaccines against some strains of meningitis have been used for decades, but the method for creating them was not effective in developing a vaccine against the most common variety of the meningitis bacteria, called group B.
"For this reason, we had to find different ways. And we have been using genomics to find proteins that could be used as vaccine targets," says Rino Rappuoli of the pharmaceutical⁸ company Novartis.
He and his colleagues set out to make a substance - an immunogen - that would prompt the body to produce antibodies to fight all the numerous sub-varieties of group B.