Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are working to create a special chewing gum that could help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by "trapping" the virus so a person can't transmit it to someone else.

宾夕法尼亚大学新冠病毒研究人员正在努力研制一种特殊口香糖，它可以通过"诱捕"新冠病毒阻止其感染他人，从而帮助抑制新冠疫情传播。

Experts agree vaccinations are the best way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's also known vaccinated people can still transmit the virus.
专家们认为接种疫苗是抗击新冠的最佳手段，但众所周知，已经接种疫苗的人仍能传播病毒。

The researchers are hoping their chewing gum will give people a low-cost way to further prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
宾夕法尼亚大学研究人员希望他们研发的口香糖能成为进一步控制疫情传播的低成本方法。

The gum contains plant-grown ACE2 proteins, which showed in laboratory studies to have the capability to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
口香糖含有植物产生的血管紧张素转换酶2(ACE2)蛋白，实验室研究表明这种蛋白可以中和新冠病毒。

When researchers exposed saliva samples from COVID-19 patients to the modified chewing gum, they found the levels of viral RNA were "drastically reduced" to the point the virus was almost undetectable.
研究人员让新冠患者的唾液样本与ACE2蛋白口香糖接触，发现病毒RNA的含量"急剧下降"到几乎检测不到的程度。

The research is still in its early stages, and the researchers are working on getting permission to conduct a clinical trial in humans to determine if the gum is safe and effective.
这项研究仍处于早期阶段，研究人员正在争取进行人体临床试验的许可，以确定这种口香糖是否安全有效。