So ... we're in a real live war at the moment, and it's a war that we're truly losing. It's a war on superbugs.
我们现在正处于真实的战争中,且我们真的在节节败退。这是场与超级病菌之战。
So you might wonder, if I'm going to talk about superbugs, why I'm showing you a photograph of some soccer fans
你们可能会纳闷,如果我要来谈超级病菌,为什么我给各位看的是一些足球迷的照片?
Liverpool soccer fans celebrating a famous victory in Istanbul, a decade ago.
这些是利物浦的足球迷,正在庆祝一场著名的胜利,十年前在伊斯坦布尔的胜利。
In the back, in the red shirt, well, that's me, and next to me in the red hat, that's my friend Paul Rice.
在后排,穿着红色上衣的就是我。我旁边戴红帽子的那位,是我的朋友保罗·莱斯。
So a couple of years after this picture was taken, Paul went into hospital for some minor surgery,
这张照片拍摄后几年,保罗去医院做小手术时,
and he developed a superbug-related infection, and he died. And I was truly shocked.
受到超级病菌的感染,然后过世了。我非常震惊。
He was a healthy guy in the prime of life.
他是个很健康的人,正值壮年。
So there and then, and actually with a lot of encouragement from a couple of TEDsters,
在那时,由于几位TED的人给我许多鼓励,
I declared my own personal war on superbugs. So let's talk about superbugs for a moment.
我个人向超级病菌宣战。我们先来谈一下超级病菌。
The story actually starts in the 1940s with the widespread introduction of antibiotics.
故事开始于20世纪40年代,当时抗生素被广泛推广。
And since then, drug-resistant bacteria have continued to emerge,
从那之后,抗药物的细菌就持续出现,
and so we've been forced to develop newer and newer drugs to fight these new bacteria.
我们就不得不一直开发更新的药物来对抗新的细菌。
And this vicious cycle actually is the origin of superbugs, which is simply bacteria for which we don't have effective drugs.
这个恶性循环正是超级病菌的起源,超级病菌就是我们没有任何有效药物可以对抗的细菌。
I'm sure you'll recognize at least some of these superbugs. These are the more common ones around today.
我相信你们应该认识其中几种超级病菌。这些是现今比较常见的超级病菌。
Last year, around 700,000 people died from superbug-related diseases.
去年,大约有七十万人死于超级病菌相关的疾病。
Looking to the future, if we carry on on the path we're going,
展望未来,如果我们继续在现行的路线上前进,
which is basically a drugs-based approach to the problem,
基本上就是采取以药物为基础的方法来解决问题,
the best estimate by the middle of this century is that the worldwide death toll from superbugs will be 10 million. 10 million.
到这个世纪中期,最合理预估,全世界会有一千万人因为感染超级病菌而死亡。一千万人。
Just to put that in context, that's actually more than the number of people that died of cancer worldwide last year.
联系一下当前背景,这个数字比去年全世界死于癌症的人数还多。
So it seems pretty clear that we're not on a good road, and the drugs-based approach to this problem is not working.
所以显然我们的现行路线不是很理想。以药物为基础的方法来解决这个问题是行不通的。
I'm a physicist, and so I wondered, could we take a physics-based approach -- a different approach to this problem.
我是物理学家,所以我就想,我们是否可以用以物理为基础的方法,用一个不同的方法来解决此问题。
And in that context, the first thing we know for sure,
在那个情况下,我们能确定的第一件事,
is that we actually know how to kill every kind of microbe, every kind of virus, every kind of bacteria.
就是我们确实知道如何杀死每一种微生物,每一种病毒,每一种细菌。
And that's with ultraviolet light. We've actually known this for more than 100 years.
做法就是用紫外线。我们早在一百年前就知道这件事了。
I think you all know what ultraviolet light is.
我想,你们都知道紫外线是什么。
It's part of a spectrum that includes infrared,
它是光谱的一部分,光谱上包括了红外线,
it includes visible light, and the short-wavelength part of this group is ultraviolet light.
它包括了可见光,其中短波长的部份就是紫外线。
The key thing from our perspective here
我们想法的关键是
is that ultraviolet light kills bacteria by a completely different mechanism from the way drugs kill bacteria.
紫外线杀死细菌的机制完全不同于药物杀死细菌的方法。
So ultraviolet light is just as capable of killing a drug-resistant bacteria as any other bacteria,
紫外线能够杀死那些能抵抗药物的细菌,就像杀死其他细菌一样,
and because ultraviolet light is so good at killing all bugs,
因为紫外线非常擅长杀死所有的细菌,
it's actually used a lot these days to sterilize rooms, sterilize working surfaces.
其实近期它常常被用来消毒房间、消毒工作台。
What you see here is a surgical theater being sterilized with germicidal ultraviolet light.
各位现在看到的是一间手术室,正在用杀菌紫外线进行消毒。
But what you don't see in this picture, actually, is any people, and there's a very good reason for that.
在照片上看不到的一样东西,就是人。这背后有个很好的理由。
Ultraviolet light is actually a health hazard, so it can damage cells in our skin, cause skin cancer,
紫外线对人体的健康有害,它可能会伤害我们的皮肤细胞,造成皮肤癌,
it can damage cells in our eye, cause eye diseases like cataract.
它可能会伤害我们的眼睛细胞,造成眼睛疾病,如白内障。
So you can't use conventional, germicidal, ultraviolet light when there are people are around.
所以,你不能把常见的杀菌紫外线用在有人的地方。
And of course, we want to sterilize mostly when there are people around.
然而,我们就是想要对人来做杀菌。
So the ideal ultraviolet light would actually be able to kill all bacteria, including superbugs,
所以,理想的紫外线要能够杀死所有细菌,包括超级病菌,
but would be safe for human exposure. And actually that's where my physics background kicked into this story.
但在人类被照射到时,也要是安全的。那就是我的物理背景进入这个故事的地方了。
Together with my physics colleagues,
我和我的物理同事合作,
we realized there actually is a particular wavelength of ultraviolet light that should kill all bacteria,
我们发现,紫外线有一个特定的波长应该能够杀死所有细菌,
but should be safe for human exposure. That wavelength is called far-UVC light,
而且照射到人类也是安全的。那波长被称为远紫外线,
and it's just the short-wavelength part of the ultraviolet spectrum. So let's see how that would work.
它只是紫外线光谱上的短波部分。我们来看看它是怎么运作的。
What you're seeing here is the surface of our skin,
各位在这里看到的是皮肤的表面,
and I'm going to superimpose on that some bacteria in the air above the skin.
我要在皮肤上面的空气中加上一些的细菌。
Now we're going to see what happens when conventional, germicidal, ultraviolet light impinges on this.
现在我们来看看用常见的杀菌紫外线在上面照射后会发生什么事。
So what you see is, as we know, germicidal light is really good at killing bacteria,
你们现在看到的是,如我们所知,杀菌紫外线真的很擅长杀死细菌,
but what you also see is that it penetrates into the upper layers of our skin,
但你们也看到,它穿透过皮肤的上面几层,
and it can damage those key cells in our skin which ultimately, when damaged, can lead to skin cancer.
它可能会伤害皮肤的重要细胞,当这些细胞受损,最终可能就会导致皮肤癌。
So let's compare now with far-UVC light -- same situation, skin and some bacteria in the air above them.
现在来和远紫外线做个比较--在同样的情况下,皮肤上的空气中有一些细菌。
So what you're seeing now is that again, far-UVC light's perfectly fine at killing bacteria,
现在各位看到的,是远紫外线也可以很完美地杀死细菌,
but what far-UVC light can't do is penetrate into our skin.
但远紫外线却不会穿透我们的皮肤。
And there's a good, solid physics reason for that:
这个现象的背后有个很好而且很可靠的物理理由:
far-UVC light is incredibly, strongly absorbed by all biological materials, so it simply can't go very far.
远紫外线能被所有的生物材料以不可思议的程度强力吸收,所以它就是走不远。
Now, viruses and bacteria are really, really, really small,
病毒和细菌都极其微小,
so the far-UVC light can certainly penetrate them and kill them, but what it can't do is penetrate into skin,
所以远紫外线肯定可以穿透并杀死它们。但它无法做到的,就是穿透皮肤,
and it can't even penetrate the dead-cell area right at the very surface of our skin.
它甚至无法穿透我们皮肤表面的死细胞区域。
So far-UVC light should be able to kill bacteria, but kill them safely.
所以远紫外线应该可以杀死细菌,而且对人体是安全的。
So that's the theory. It should work, should be safe.
所以理论是这样,它应该有用,应该安全。
What about in practice? Does it really work? Is it really safe?
那么在实际运作时呢?它真的有用吗?它真的安全吗?
So that's actually what our lab has been working on the past five or six years,
那正是过去五到六年间我们的实验室在努力的,
and I'm delighted to say the answer to both these questions is an emphatic yes.
我很高兴地告诉各位,这两个问题的答案,是很肯定的“是”。
Yes, it does work, but yes, it is safe. So I'm delighted to say that,
是的,它的确有用,是的,它是安全的。我很高兴能那么说,
but actually I'm not very surprised to say that, because it's purely the laws of physics at work.
但其实这结果并不会让我讶异,因为那很单纯就是物理原理。
So let's look to the future. I'm thrilled that we now have a completely new weapon,
咱们来看看未来。我们现在有了全新的武器,我感到很兴奋,
and I should say an inexpensive weapon, in our fight against superbugs.
我应该说是不贵的武器,能用来对抗超级病菌。
For example, I see far-UVC lights in surgical theaters.
比如,我在手术室看到远紫外线。
I see far-UVC lights in food preparation areas.
在制作食物的区域看到远紫外线。
And in terms of preventing the spread of viruses,
在预防病毒散播方面,
I see far-UVC lights in schools, preventing the spread of influenza, preventing the spread of measles,
我可在学校看到远紫外线,预防感冒传播,预防麻疹散布,
and I see far-UVC lights in airports or airplanes, preventing the global spread of viruses like H1N1 virus.
我在机场或飞机上看到远紫外线,预防像H1N1这类病毒在全球散布。
So back to my friend Paul Rice.
回到我的朋友保罗·莱斯。
He was actually a well-known and well-loved local politician in his and my hometown of Liverpool,
在我们的家乡利物浦,他其实是位知名且受爱戴的当地政治家,
and they put up a statue in his memory in the center of Liverpool, and there it is.
他们在利物浦的中心为他立了一座纪念雕像,就这个。
But me, I want Paul's legacy to be a major advance in this war against superbugs.
但是我,我希望保罗留给世人的是在超级病菌之战中的重大进展。
Armed with the power of light, that's actually within our grasp. Thank you.
有了远紫外线为武器,胜利已经不远了。谢谢。
Stay up here, David, I've got a question for you.
请留步,戴维,我有个问题想请教。
David, tell us where you're up to in developing this,
戴维,请告诉我们,你们开发这个的目的是什么?
and what are the remaining obstacles to trying to roll out and realize this dream?
若要实现这个梦想,还有什么其他障碍待突破?
Well, I think we now know that it kills all bacteria,
我想,我们现在知道它能杀死所有细菌,
but we sort of knew that before we started, but we certainly tested that.
但在我们开始之前就知道这点了,但我们对它做了测试。
So we have to do lots and lots of tests about safety, and so it's more about safety than it is about efficacy.
所以,我们得要做很多安全相关的测试,重点比较是在安全而非效能。
And we need to do short-term tests, and we need to do long-term tests to make sure you can't develop melanoma many years on.
我们需要做短期测试,我们需要做长期测试,以确保使用者不会因此在多年之后得到黑色素瘤。
So those studies are pretty well done at this point.
所以,目前那些研究都做得很好。
The FDA of course is something we have to deal with, and rightly so,
当然,我们必须得到食品及药物管理局批准,这是理所当然的,
because we certainly can't use this in the real world without FDA approval.
因为如果要实际广泛运用,就一定要先有食品及药物管理局的核准。
Are you trying to launch first in the US, or somewhere else?
你打算先在美国推出,还是在其他地方?
Actually, in a couple of countries. In Japan and in the US, both.
事实上,会在两个国家。在日本和美国。
Have you been able to persuade biologists, doctors, that this is a safe approach?
你是否已经说服了生物学家及医生,让他们相信这是安全的方法?
Well, as you can imagine, there is a certain skepticism because everybody knows that UV light is not safe.
你可以想象,一定有人会抱持怀疑态度,因为每个人都知道紫外线不安全。
So when somebody comes along and says, "Well, this particular UV light is safe," there is a barrier to be crossed,
所以当有个人说:“这种特定的紫外线是安全的”,就会有障碍需要跨越,
but the data are there, and I think that's what we're going to be standing on.
但我们已经有数据数据了,那些数据会是我们的基础。
Well, we wish you well. This is potentially such important work.
祝你顺利。这是可能是相当重要的研究。
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Thank you, David.
非常感谢和我们分享。谢谢你,戴维。