[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.59]this is the Health Report. [00:05.48]Hundreds of thousands of children [00:08.40]become infected with the AIDS virus every year. [00:13.02]There boys and girls are born to mothers who have HIV, [00:18.01]the human immunodeficiency virus. [00:21.44]Infection takes place during pregnancy [00:24.79]or from breastfeeding. [00:27.60]Recently, Scientists identified a protein [00:32.31]in breast milk that suppresses the virus, [00:35.97]the protein may even protect babies [00:39.36]from become infected. [00:41.72]Now, Experts say the discovery could lead to new ways [00:46.67]to protect babies whose mothers are infected with HIV. [00:51.77]To prevent Infection, doctors give Anti-retroviral drugs [00:57.79]to both mothers and their babies, [01:00.88]that has greatly reduced the number of infections. [01:04.84]But experts say that even without anti-AIDS drugs, [01:10.68]only a small percentage of babies [01:13.68]become infected through breast milk. [01:16.63]Sallie Permar is a professor of pediatrics and immunology [01:22.19]at Duke University in North Carolina. [01:25.96]She says, breastfeed babies appear to resist infection. [01:31.71]"It is actually remarkable that despite [01:34.85]the infant being exposed to the virus multiple times daily [01:38.29]for up to two years of their life, [01:41.57]actually only 10 percent of those babies [01:43.82]will become infected," said Permar. [01:45.31]The low rate of the infection [01:47.47]was of great interest to researchers, [01:50.13]including Sallie Permar. [01:52.52]She led an effort to identify a substance in breast milk [01:57.98]that may protect babies from infection. [02:01.19]Her team directed its attention to a protein [02:05.24]called Tenacin-C, also called TNC. [02:10.71]It is known to be involved in the process of healing wounds. [02:15.62]But what purpose it serves in breast milk is not known. [02:21.27]The researchers exposed the TNC protein [02:25.48]from breast milk of uninfected women to HIV, [02:29.99]the protein linked up to the virus and made it harmless. [02:34.94]Antiretroviral drugs remain effective [02:39.04]in limiting the passing of HIV from mother to baby. [02:44.25]But professor Permar and her team suggest [02:49.15]the TNC could be used in places [02:52.65]where costly drug treatments are often not available. [02:57.66]"The issues are access to the drugs as well as monitoring. [03:03.16]There are issues of toxicity and anti-retroviral drug resistance. [03:07.73]And so we think alternative strategies [03:11.49]may be needed to completely eliminate infant transmission," she Permar. [03:14.44]She suggests that TNC could be given to babies [03:20.35]before breastfeeding to provide additional protection against HIV. [03:27.15]She adds that the protein is safe, [03:30.59]because it is already in natural part of human milk. [03:35.10]This may avoid the problem of HIV [03:38.69]become resisted to Antiretroviral drugs. [03:42.89]The team reported its findings in the journal [03:46.65]Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [03:50.61]And that is the Health Report from VOA Learning English. [03:55.90]I'm June Simms.

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