HEALTH REPORT - How Antiviral Drugs Work

HEALTH REPORT - How Antiviral Drugs Work
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Wednesday, February 11, 2004

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

 
A representation of how viruses attack a cell.
Here is a common situation: A person gets sick with a high temperature, muscle pain and a cough. The person goes to a doctor to ask for some antibiotics² to treat the infection. The doctor says the person has influenza³ which is caused by a virus. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses. They only treat infections caused by bacteria. But there are newer kinds of medicines known as antivirals.

A case of the flu usually lasts a week or two. Scientists at the United States Centers for Disease Control say early antiviral treatment can shorten that time by about one day. But they say for this to happen, people must take the medicine within the first two days of sickness.

Four antiviral drugs are approved for use against influenza in the United States. They mainly fight infections in the breathing system. Each drug has possible side effects. In the United States, a person must have an order from a doctor to receive these medicines.

Scientists say two of the four drugs are effective against the infection caused by the type A influenza virus. They are not effective against influenza type B. The other two drugs can treat both. One of these antiviral medicines, called oseltamivir, can also help prevent influenza.

Viruses invade cells and copy the genetic⁴ material inside in order to reproduce. Some antivirals work by preventing this process. Or they may interfere⁵ with the ability of the virus to connect itself to the cell. Other antiviral drugs prevent the virus from destroying the protective protein around a cell.

The first antiviral drugs were created in the nineteen-sixties. A number of new antivirals were in common use by the nineteen-nineties. Progress in the engineering of genes⁶ and the science of molecular⁷ biology made these new medicines possible. Some have helped patients suffering from diseases like hepatitis B in the liver. Other kinds of antiviral drugs are able to suppress H-I-V, the virus that causes AIDS, so a person lives longer.

Antibiotics are made from bacteria. The drugs contain organisms that damage the cells of other microbes that cause sickness. The British doctor Alexander Fleming discovered what is generally accepted as the first antibiotic¹, penicillin⁸. That was in nineteen-twenty-eight. Penicillin did not come into common use, however, until the nineteen-forties.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

1 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

2 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。

3 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

5 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

6 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

7 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

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。