新闻周刊:对抗耐药菌(2)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 2 million people a year are sickened in the U.S. by bacteria or fungi¹ resistant² to major antibiotics³, and that 23,000 die from them. “It's probably a vast underestimate,” says Karen Hoffmann, who heads the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. “We don't have a good reporting system for multiresistant organisms, so we don't really know.” Studies suggest the cost to the U.S. health care system of treating patients with these hardy⁴ bugs⁵ tops $3 billion a year.

美国疾病控制与预防中心报告称，美国每年有200万人因对主要抗生素具有耐药性的细菌或真菌而患病，其中2.3万人因此死亡。“这可能被大大低估了，”世卫组织领导感染控制和流行病学专业人员协会会长凯伦·霍夫曼表示。“我们没有一个很好的多耐药性生物报告系统，所以我们真的不知道。”研究表明，美国卫生保健系统每年为治疗这些顽强病菌患者的费用高达30亿美元。

This grim trend is expected to accelerate. The World Health Organization predicts that worldwide death rates from drug-resistant microbes will climb from the current 700,000 per year to 10 million by 2050. At that point, they will have surpassed cancer, heart disease and diabetes⁶ to become the main cause of death in the human race. Before antibiotics, a small cut, tooth decay or routine surgery could lead to a life-threatening bacterial⁷ infection. Penicillin⁸, the “miracle drug,” and other antibiotics changed all that, saving countless⁹ lives over the years. But the age of the miracle drug seems to be ending.

这一严峻的趋势预计将加速。世界卫生组织预测，到2050年，全球耐药微生物的死亡率将从目前的每年70万上升到1000万。到那时，它们将超过癌症、心脏病和糖尿病，成为人类的主要死亡原因。在使用抗生素之前，小切口、蛀牙或常规手术都可能导致危及生命的细菌感染。盘尼西林这种“神奇的药物”和其他抗生素改变了这一切，多年来挽救了无数人的生命。但这种神奇药物的时代似乎即将结束。

Doctors are learning how to identify and isolate¹⁰ the bugs that are already resistant in the hopes of avoiding large outbreaks. They are scrambling¹¹ to tighten¹² up on the use of antibiotics in an effort to slow the development of resistant strains. It's too little, too late: The strategy will only buy us some time. At the moment, the oldest and weakest patients in hospitals are most affected¹³, but the risks are spreading. “We're seeing healthy young people with urinary tract¹⁴ and skin infections that we don't have a pill for,” says Helen Boucher, an infectious disease specialist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “And we may not be able to perform organ transplants, and even routine surgeries like joint¹⁵ replacements¹⁶. We should all be scared.”

医生们正在学习如何识别和隔离已经具有抗药性的细菌，希望能避免大规模爆发。他们正忙于收紧抗生素的使用，以减缓耐药菌株的发展。这一策略只会为我们赢得一些时间。目前，医院中年龄最大和最虚弱的病人受到的影响最大，但风险正在蔓延。“我们看到健康的年轻人患有泌尿道和皮肤感染，但我们没有药物治疗，”波士顿塔夫茨医学中心的传染病专家海伦·鲍彻说。“我们可能无法进行器官移植，甚至无法进行像关节置换这样的常规手术。我们都应该有危机意识。”

1 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

2 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

3 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

4 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

5 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

7 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

8 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

9 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

10 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

11 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 tract   

n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林)

参考例句：

• He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
• He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。

15 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

16 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网