科学家开发通用抗毒剂对付毒蛇

科学家开发通用抗毒剂对付毒蛇

Thousands of people in sub-Saharan Africa die or are disabled each year due to poisonous snake bites. Scientists in Britain are working to develop a serum¹ that will counteract² the venom³ from all sub-Saharan poisonous snake bites.

The Puff⁴ adder⁵ is only one of many venomous snakes native to sub-Saharan Africa.

鼓腹毒蛇是原产于撒哈拉南部非洲的众多毒蛇之一。

Dr. Robert Harrison, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, says every year, puff adders⁶ and the other snakes kill about 32,000 people.

利物浦热带医学院的罗伯特·哈里森博士说，鼓腹毒蛇和其他毒蛇每年杀死大约3.2万人。

“It's not only that; other people who survive the bite - about 100,000 of them - are living with severe disabled limbs or legs, just really very disabling conditions,” he said.

“不仅如此，其他被蛇咬但没有死掉的人有大约10万，他们肢体严重残疾，身体严重伤残。”

The current method of producing anti-venom - starting with the venom itself - is time-consuming and costly⁷, and the serum must be refrigerated. Victims have to be treated multiple times and there are possible side-effects. With the price of about $140 per single dose, the full treatment may cost more than $500, which makes it unaffordable for most rural Africans.

目前治疗抗毒剂的方法一开始要使用到毒液，这种方法耗时且成本高，而且血清必须进行冷藏。受害者必须接受多次治疗，而且还可能有副作用。每剂药的价格大约140美元，全部治疗需要500多美元，这对大多数非洲农村人来说难以承受。

In addition, because of the way they're produced, current serums⁹ counteract poison from only one species, or a few related ones, so doctors must determine what snake bit the victim.

另外，由于抗毒剂生产方法所限，目前的血清只对一种或少数几种相关蛇毒有效，所以医生必须确定患者是被哪种蛇咬伤的。

The anti-venom developed by scientists at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine specifically for Nigeria, proved to be cheap, safe and effective.

利物浦热带医学院科学家研发的抗毒剂是专为尼日利亚研制的，已被证明廉价、安全且有效。

Harrison says his team is using it as a basis for developing universal anti-venom applicable to all venomous snakes in sub-Saharan Africa.

哈里森说他的团队使用这种抗毒剂作为开发能对付撒哈拉南部非洲各种毒蛇的通用抗毒剂的基础。

“We're going to do that by identifying the proteins that are unique to all the other species," he said. "And taking these unique proteins. i.e. different from the Source Scale Viper¹⁰, the Puff Adder or the Spitting Cobra, and add that to the venoms¹¹ of the original three.”

“我们准备识别出所有其他毒蛇独有的蛋白质，将这种与源规模毒蛇--鼓腹毒蛇或黑颈眼镜蛇--不同的蛋白质中加入最初的三种毒液。”

For this purpose the lab is regularly extracting venom from 450 snakes belonging to 21 of the most deadly species of sub-Saharan African snakes.

为此，该实验室定期从450种毒蛇中抽取毒液，这些毒蛇属于撒哈拉南部非洲21类最致命毒蛇品种。

Scientists say the universal anti-venom will be more affordable⁸ than current serums and will be effective much longer.

科学家称这种通用抗毒剂将比目前的血清更廉价，而且有效性更久。

 

Target date for the ultimate test - after a year of storage at room temperature - is set for July 2018.

经过一年的室温下储藏，最终测试的预定日期是2018年7月。

1 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

2 counteract   

vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some medicine to counteract the effect of the poison.医生给他些药解毒。
• Our work calls for mutual support.We shouldn't counteract each other's efforts.工作要互相支持，不要互相拆台。

3 venom   

n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨

参考例句：

• The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
• In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。

4 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

5 adder   

n.蝰蛇；小毒蛇

参考例句：

• The adder is Britain's only venomous snake.蝰蛇是英国唯一的一种毒蛇。
• An adder attacked my father.一条小毒蛇攻击了我父亲。

6 adders   

n.加法器，（欧洲产）蝰蛇（小毒蛇），（北美产无毒的）猪鼻蛇( adder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The walls on the outside were seamed with deep cracks which were a breeding-place for adders. 墙外面深刻的裂缝是蝰蛇生息的场所。 来自辞典例句
• Or you can receive a pamphlet if you tell your adders. 如果您留下地址的话，我们将寄一份本店的小册子给您。 来自互联网

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

9 serums   

n.（动物体内的）浆液( serum的名词复数 )；血清；（一剂）免疫血清

参考例句：

• To observe the trends of plague FI antibody serums of Microtus fuscus. 观察青海田鼠血清中鼠疫FI抗体动态。 来自互联网
• The contents of T_3,T_4 and cAMP in serums were increased by 16.01%(P<0.05),17.06%(P<0.05) and 19.88%(P<0.05) respectively. 三碘甲腺原氨酸、甲状腺素和环腺苷酸含量，分别比对照组增加了16.01%(P<0.05)、17.06%(P<0.05)和19.88%(P<0.05)。 来自互联网

10 viper   

n.毒蛇；危险的人

参考例句：

• Envy lucks at the bottom of the human heart a viper in its hole.嫉妒潜伏在人心底，如同毒蛇潜伏在穴中。
• Be careful of that viper;he is dangerous.小心那个阴险的人，他很危险。

11 venoms   

n.（某些蛇、蝎子等分泌的）毒液( venom的名词复数 )；愤恨的感情或语言；毒物

参考例句：

• Spider venoms are exquisitely refined to interfere with the nervous systems of insects. 蜘蛛的毒液非常微妙，专门损坏昆虫的神经系统。 来自百科语句
• Venoms (especially upgraded) are the ideal unit for taking out husks. 毒液（特别是升级后的）是消灭外壳的理想单位。 来自互联网