科學(xué)家警告說，有證據(jù)表明百日咳正在演變成一種“超級細(xì)菌”

科學(xué)家警告說，有證據(jù)表明百日咳正在演變成一種“超級細(xì)菌”

It starts off like an ordinary cold, but it doesn't end like one. Whooping cough, aka the '100-day cough', is a highly contagious bacterial disease that infects millions of people around the world, killing tens of thousands every year.

它開始時(shí)像普通感冒，但結(jié)束時(shí)卻不像。百日咳是一種高度傳染性的細(xì)菌性疾病，每年感染全球數(shù)百萬人，導(dǎo)致數(shù)萬人死亡。

Fortunately, vaccines to protect us from the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes whooping cough have been around since the mid-20th century, shielding people from the intense, sometimes fatal respiratory symptoms. Unfortunately, B. pertussis is not standing still.

幸運(yùn)的是，預(yù)防百日咳的博德泰拉百日咳桿菌的疫苗早在20世紀(jì)中期就出現(xiàn)了，它使人們免受劇烈的、有時(shí)是致命的呼吸道癥狀的侵害。不幸的是，百日咳并不是原地踏步的。

We found the whooping cough strains were evolving to improve their survival, regardless of whether a person was vaccinated or not, explains microbiologist Laurence Luu from UNSW.

來自新南威爾士大學(xué)的微生物學(xué)家Laurence Luu解釋說:“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)百日咳菌株正在進(jìn)化，以提高它們的存活率，而不管一個(gè)人是否接種了疫苗。”

Put simply, the bacteria that cause whooping cough are becoming better at hiding and better at feeding – they're morphing into a superbug.

“簡單地說，導(dǎo)致百日咳的細(xì)菌變得更善于隱藏和喂養(yǎng)——它們正在變成一種超級細(xì)菌。”

According to the findings, which used a technique called 'surface shaving' to analyse proteins that envelop B. pertussis at the cellular level, the strains studied were seen to be producing more nutrient-binding proteins and transport proteins, but fewer immunogenic proteins, when compared to previous research on the bacterium.

這項(xiàng)研究使用了一種名為“表面刮毛”的技術(shù)，在細(xì)胞水平上分析包膜百日咳桿菌的蛋白質(zhì)。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，與以前對這種細(xì)菌的研究相比，研究菌株產(chǎn)生了更多的營養(yǎng)結(jié)合蛋白和運(yùn)輸?shù)鞍?，但產(chǎn)生的免疫原性蛋白更少。

The researchers say these new changes in B. pertussis mean that the bacteria may be "metabolically fitter" than previous generations, and can more efficiently scavenge nutrients from hosts, while avoiding the host's immune system responses.

研究人員表示，百日咳桿菌的這些新變化意味著，這種細(xì)菌可能比前幾代細(xì)菌“新陳代謝更健康”，能夠更有效地從宿主體內(nèi)吸收營養(yǎng)，同時(shí)避免宿主的免疫系統(tǒng)做出反應(yīng)。

In addition, because the evolved forms might not trigger immune responses as much, it's possible people could be carrying an infection without realising, since fewer symptoms would show.

此外，由于進(jìn)化的形式可能不會(huì)引發(fā)那么多的免疫反應(yīng)，人們可能在沒有意識到的情況下攜帶了一種感染，因?yàn)闀?huì)出現(xiàn)更少的癥狀。

The bacteria might still colonise you and survive without causing the disease, says Luu.

Luu說:“這些細(xì)菌可能還會(huì)在你體內(nèi)繁殖，并在不引起疾病的情況下存活下來。”

You probably wouldn't know you've been infected with the whooping cough bacteria because you don't get the symptoms.

“你可能不知道你已經(jīng)感染了百日咳，因?yàn)槟銢]有癥狀。”