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Sat 26 Sep, 2009 04:42 am
Fifty-one of those given vaccine were infected, compared with 74 given a placebo = Fifty-one of those given vaccine were infected, and 74 given a placebo were infected, too; so the comparison between the two numbers is obvious?
Context:
Volunteers were men and women ages 18 to 30. Fifty-one of those given vaccine were infected, compared with 74 given a placebo.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, another trial sponsor, expresses "cautious optimism" that scientists someday will be able to make a vaccine that protects against HIV.
Yes, the comparison is obvious.
The context you provided, however, is surreal. Whoever wrote it is goofy.
Quote:Fifty-one of those given vaccine were infected, compared with 74 given a placebo
The reader is being invited to compare the number of vaccinated people who became infected with the larger number of people who were given a placebo and became infected. The intention, I presume, is to suggest that the vaccine given has some effectiveness against the infection, although we cannot tell this because the information given is incomplete; we are not told the total numbers of people vaccinated or given the placebo. Furthermore, it is poor style to mix the expression of numbers in words and figures in the same piece of writing. Either "fifty-one" and "seventy-four" or "51" and "74".
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