新闻周刊:对抗耐药菌(8)（在线收听）

The idea of bacteria-proof clothing has so far survived a battery of tests. “We've exposed the treated fabric to all kinds of bacteria over and over again, and we can't find any sticking to it,” she says. “We're still trying to figure out the mechanism, but we know it works with all different types of bacteria.” She has already collaborated with a major medical-supply company to prove that the nanocrystals can be cheaply incorporated into manufacturing processes. Now, she's investigating ways to get the crystals into a variety of other materials used in hospitals, including stainless steel, paint and plastics. These treated materials would stay bacteria-free much longer than conventional hospital surfaces that are wiped with common disinfectants, she says.

到目前为止，防细菌服装的理念经受住了一系列测试。“我们一次又一次地将处理过的织物暴露在各种细菌中，却没有发现任何粘附物，”她表示。“我们仍在试图找出其机理，但我们知道它适用于所有不同类型的细菌。”她已经与一家大型医疗供应公司合作，证明纳米晶体可以廉价地用于制造过程。现在，她正在研究如何将这种晶体植入医院使用的多种其他材料中，包括不锈钢、油漆和塑料。她说，与用普通消毒剂擦拭的传统医院表面相比，这些经过处理的材料不含细菌的时间要长得多。

Lasers are another potential weapon against bacteria. Mohamed Seleem, a Purdue University biologist, and his colleagues were trying to come up with a way to quickly identify infectious bacteria in blood samples by hitting the samples with laser light of different colors. Along the way, they noticed that certain drug-resistant bacteria changed color from gold to white just seconds after being hit with a mild beam of blue laser light. Some of these “photobleached” bugs died, and others became so weakened that they lost their resistance to ordinary antibiotics. The blue light, it turned out, damages the pigment in the bacteria's outer membrane. “It only affects a particular pigment,” says Seleem. “So it doesn't harm any other cells.”

激光是另一种对付细菌的潜在武器。普渡大学生物学家穆罕默德塞勒姆和他的同事们正试图找到一种方法，通过用不同颜色的激光照射血液样本，快速识别血液样本中的传染性细菌。在此过程中，他们注意到某些耐药细菌在被柔和的蓝色激光照射几秒钟后，颜色就从金色变成了白色。这些“光漂白”的细菌中，有些已经死亡，而另一些则变得虚弱，以至于对普通抗生素失去了抵抗力。事实证明，蓝光会破坏细菌外膜中的色素。“它只影响一种特殊的色素，”萨利姆说道。“所以它不会伤害任何其他细胞。”

Seleem and his collaborators are now working to find ways to tune the color of the laser light to target other resistant bugs. If he succeeds, health care workers would be able to use a laser the size of a flashlight to safely kill dangerous bacteria on patients' skin or disinfect a hospital or doctor's office. It could also be shined on the skin and clothing of health care workers themselves in order to keep them from spreading infections. His collaborators are working to set up clinical trials.

塞勒姆和他的同事们现在正在寻找调整激光颜色的方法，以瞄准其他具有抗药性的细菌。如果他成功了，医护人员将能够使用手电筒大小的激光安全地杀死病人皮肤上的危险细菌，或对医院或医生的办公室进行消毒。它也可以涂在医护人员自己的皮肤和衣服上，以防止传播感染。他的合作者正致力于建立临床试验。

Seleem also thinks the light could be used on severe, dangerously resistant blood infections, by hooking up a patient to a blood-circulating machine and shining it on the blood as it passes through. “You're basically taking out the patient's blood, sterilizing it and returning it to the patient,” he says.

塞勒姆还认为，通过将病人与血液循环机器连接起来，并在血液通过时将其照射在血液上，这种光可以用于治疗严重的、具有危险耐药性的血液感染。“你基本上是把病人的血液取出来，消毒，然后还给病人，”他说。