新闻周刊:对抗耐药菌(5)

ImmuCell, a biotech company in Portland, Maine, has developed a bacteriocin that treats dairy cows for mastitis, a disease that costs the dairy industry $2 billion a year. Riley says labs like hers can adapt phages and bacteriocins to target virtually any sort of human microbial infection too, with little risk of nurturing¹ new resistance. “These are stable, hardy² killing³ mechanisms⁴ that evolved 2 billion years ago,” she says.

缅因州波特兰市的生物技术公司ImmuCell开发了一种细菌素，用于治疗乳腺炎，乳腺炎每年给乳制品行业带来20亿美元的损失。莱利表示，像她这样的实验室可以让噬菌体和细菌素适应几乎任何一种人类微生物感染，几乎没有培育新的耐药性的风险。“这些是20亿年前进化而来的稳定、顽强的杀戮机制，”她说。

Several clinical trials of phage therapy have already been successfully conducted in Poland, the nation of Georgia and Bangladesh. In the West, there have been successful phage trials for foot ulcers⁵. No trials are underway for more serious infections, but a successful phage treatment of a critically multiresistant-infected patient in California in 2017 under Food and Drug Administration emergency rules has more researchers in the U.S. looking to develop phage treatments. One or more of these could move toward trials in the next few years, says Riley, including one for multi-resistant⁶ tuberculosis⁷ and another for pulmonary infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Bacteriocins are further behind. The U.S. government has promised to provide $2 billion for the effort to develop these alternatives, “but that's not nearly enough,” she says.

波兰、格鲁吉亚和孟加拉国已经成功地进行了若干噬菌体治疗的临床试验。在西方，已经有成功的噬菌体试验治疗足溃疡。目前还没有针对更严重感染的试验，但根据美国食品和药物管理局的紧急规定，2017年加州一名多重耐药性感染患者的噬菌体治疗取得成功，这让美国有更多研究人员希望开发噬菌体治疗方法。赖利说，其中一种或多种药物有望在未来几年进入临床试验阶段，其中一种用于治疗耐多药结核病，另一种用于治疗囊性纤维化患者的肺部感染。细菌素远远落后。美国政府承诺提供20亿美元用于开发替代能源，“但这还远远不够，”她说。

Cancer researchers are widely investigating drugs that can boost immune systems, and these immunotherapies could be promising⁸ in helping⁹ weakened patients fight off resistant bugs¹⁰ that try to take hold. Researchers have produced human antibodies in cows and other animals that can be injected into patients. Boston's Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital, in an emergency effort, reported injecting a combination of antibodies and antibiotics¹¹ to save a patient with a drug-resistant infection, but the results weren't disclosed. Otherwise, little has been done to bring the approach to trials in infected patients. Researchers are also working on vaccines¹² against resistant staph infections and other resistant bacteria, but these too are just research efforts. “These non-antibiotic treatments are still in the early stages of investigation,” says David Banach, who heads infection prevention at the UConn Health medical center in Farmington, Connecticut. “But we have to keep thinking of new approaches.”

癌症研究人员正在广泛研究能够增强免疫系统的药物，这些免疫疗法有望帮助身体虚弱的病人击退那些试图占据优势的抗药性细菌。研究人员已经在牛和其他动物身上制造出了人类抗体，可以注射到病人体内。波士顿哈佛大学附属的布里格姆女子医院在紧急情况下报告说，他们注射了抗体和抗生素的混合物，以挽救一名耐药感染患者，但没有告知调查结果。除此之外，几乎没有人将这种方法应用于感染患者的试验。研究人员还在研究针对耐药葡萄球菌感染和其他耐药细菌的疫苗，但这些也只是研究工作。“这些非抗生素治疗仍处于研究的早期阶段，” 康涅狄格州法明顿市康州大学健康医疗中心感染预防部门的负责人大卫·巴纳奇说。“但我们必须不断思考新的方法。”

1 nurturing   

养育( nurture的现在分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• These delicate plants need careful nurturing. 这些幼嫩的植物需要精心培育。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants. 这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

2 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ulcers   

n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败

参考例句：

• Detachment of the dead cells produces erosions and ulcers. 死亡细胞的脱落，产生糜烂和溃疡。 来自辞典例句
• 75% of postbulbar ulcers occur proximal to the duodenal papilla. 75％的球后溃疡发生在十二指肠乳头近侧。 来自辞典例句

6 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

7 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

12 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。