Every year about 700,000 people around the world die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and that number keeps rising.
全球每年约有70万人死于抗生素耐药性细菌引起的感染,这个数字还在不断上升。
Experts say if we do not find effective new drugs by 2050, the number of deaths could reach 10 million.
专家说,如果到2050年我们找不到有效的新药,死亡人数可能会达到1000万。
One course of action is to develop viruses called phages that attack a specific strain of bacteria.
一种方法是开发一种叫做噬菌体的病毒,这种病毒会攻击特定的细菌。
For instance, Staphylococcus aureus that causes a range of hard-to-treat infections.
例如,金黄色葡萄球菌会引起一系列难以应付的感染。
Crucial for this method is an enzyme called lysin.
这种方法最关键的是一种名叫溶菌素的酶。
When you take that purified enzyme and add it back to a bacteria, for example in an infection,
如果你把纯化酶重新放入细菌中,比如在感染中,
it will drill a hole in the cell wall, the membrane externalizes like it would normally do,
它会在细胞壁上钻一个洞,细胞膜依然会向外扩张,
explode and kill the organism instantly.
发生爆炸,生物体也会立即死亡。
After 20 years of research, Fischetti managed to extract lysin from a bacteria-eating phage.
经过20年的研究,菲谢蒂成功地从一个吃细菌的噬菌体中提取了溶菌素。
So the normally harmless virus itself is not used in the treatment, eliminating the danger it could mutate into a harmful form.
因此无害病毒不用于治疗,避免了病毒发生变异,形成危害的风险。
This is just a different way of killing bacteria. People are not comfortable with it yet,
这种消灭细菌的方法非常不同,人们对它还不太习惯。,
but I think once the first lysin gets through Phase II clinical trials to show that it actually works and works well,
但我认为一旦第一批溶菌素通过第二期临床试验,证明它确实有效且效果良好,
people will be more comfortable with it and I think we'll start using lysins in addition to antibiotics.
人们会更容易接受它,我认为除了抗生素,我们还将开始使用溶菌素。
Biotechnology company ContraFect successfully completed Phase I of clinical tests,
生物技术公司ContraFect成功完成了临床试验的第一阶段,
with a lysin called CF301 on healthy volunteers infected with Staph aureus, the Phase II trial is on the way.
将CF301溶菌素应用在感染黄色葡萄球菌的健康志愿者上,第二阶段试验正在进行。
We're very encouraged by what we've seen, because it tells us that we can use the lysin
我们备受鼓舞,因为我们可以使用溶菌素,
in addition to conventional small-molecule antibiotics,
除了传统的小分子抗生素外。
completely different mechanism of action, without any observable adverse events.
完全不同的作用机理,且不会出现任何明显的不良后果。
In the meantime, researchers are trying to develop a lysin
与此同时,研究人员正在努力开发一种溶菌素,
that will have the same effect on a different strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that causes hospital-acquired pneumonia.
让它能够作用于其它类型抗生素耐药性细菌,这类细菌可以导致医源性肺炎。
George Putic, VOA News.
VOA记者乔治·普提克报道。