BreakingNews·190529 - 科學(xué)家希望找到治療蛇咬傷的方法
Scientists are hoping to find a universal cure for snakebite. Experts on snakebite venom in India, Kenya, Nigeria, the UK and the USA are working together on a possible cure. They are using the same technology that was used to discover HIV anti-bodies. The scientists are trying to find ways of using human anti-bodies to fight against snake venom. At the moment, snakebite is treated using anti-venom which adapts the actual venom from the snake. Professor Robert Harrison, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: "We're pursuing what we call the 'next generation' of snakebite therapies, which we hope will be able to treat bites from any snake in Africa or India."
科學(xué)家們希望找到一種治療蛇咬傷的普遍方法。印度、肯尼亞、尼日利亞、英國(guó)和美國(guó)的蛇毒專家正在共同研究一種可能的治療方法。他們使用的技術(shù)與發(fā)現(xiàn)HIV抗體的技術(shù)相同?？茖W(xué)家們正試圖找到利用人體抗體對(duì)抗蛇毒的方法。目前，蛇咬傷的治療使用的是抗毒液，它適應(yīng)了實(shí)際的毒液從蛇。利物浦熱帶醫(yī)學(xué)院的羅伯特·哈里森教授說:“我們正在研究所謂的‘下一代’蛇咬傷療法，希望能夠治療非洲或印度的任何蛇咬傷。”
Snakebites kill up to 140,000 people a year. More people die from snakebite than from infectious diseases like rabies or dengue fever. A further 400,000 people suffer life-changing injuries after being bitten by a snake. These injuries include amputations and psychological trauma. There are about 250 types of snake worldwide that have harmful venom. The venom from these snakes is very different, which makes finding anti-venoms very challenging for scientists. Former Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan, describes snakebite as, "the biggest public health crisis you have likely never heard of". However, people who get the right anti-venom have a very high chance of survival.
每年有多達(dá)14萬人死于蛇咬傷。死于蛇咬傷的人比死于狂犬病或登革熱等傳染病的人還要多。另有40萬人在被蛇咬傷后受了傷，這將改變他們的一生。這些傷害包括截肢和心理創(chuàng)傷。世界上大約有250種蛇含有有害的毒液。這些蛇的毒液非常不同，這使得尋找抗毒液對(duì)科學(xué)家來說非常具有挑戰(zhàn)性。前聯(lián)合國(guó)秘書長(zhǎng)科菲·安南稱蛇咬傷是“你可能從未聽說過的最大的公共健康危機(jī)”。然而，得到正確的抗毒液的人有很高的生存機(jī)會(huì)。
