一種從醫(yī)院進化的細菌

一種新的喜碳水化合物超級細菌已經(jīng)“準備好”瞄準醫(yī)院的食物

An estimated half a million Americans contract the pathogen Clostridioides difficile every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Symptoms include diarrhea, bellyache and fever, which can be especially grave for the weakest among us.

據(jù)美國疾病控制中心估計，每年有50萬美國人感染艱難梭狀芽孢桿菌。癥狀包括腹瀉、腹痛和發(fā)燒，這對我們當中的虛弱人群來說尤其嚴重。

Unfortunately for those with compromised immune systems, Clostridioides difficile, also called C. diff, is mutating — and seems to be targeting hospitals, a new study finds.

一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，艱難梭狀芽胞桿菌(又稱C. diff)正在發(fā)生變異，而且似乎正瞄準醫(yī)院，這對那些免疫系統(tǒng)受損的人來說是不幸的。

“[C. difficile is] primed to take advantage of modern healthcare practices and human diets,” says study co-author Dr. Nitin Kumar, a senior bioinformatician at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in a statement.

“艱難梭菌已經(jīng)準備好利用現(xiàn)代醫(yī)療實踐和人類飲食。”研究合著者、Wellcome Sanger研究所的高級生物信息學(xué)家Nitin Kumar博士在一份聲明中說。

Kumar’s team analyzed the DNA of 906 different strains of C. diff and found that about 70% of the strain collected specifically from hospital patients shared many notable characteristics.

庫馬爾的研究小組分析了906種不同的差異梭菌的DNA，發(fā)現(xiàn)從醫(yī)院病人身上采集的約70%的差異梭菌，具有許多顯著的特征。

Researchers are calling this particular group C. difficile clade A, and it is “currently forming a new species,” claims Kumar. He notes that more than 95% of DNA within a species must be identical and that this class of C. diff is right on the cusp — sharing 94 to 95% of their genome.

庫馬爾說，研究人員稱這一特殊群體為艱難梭菌A，它“目前正在形成一個新物種”。他注意到，一個物種中95%以上的DNA必須是相同的，而這類差異C.diff恰好處于頂端，它們的基因組中94%到95%是共享的。

The burgeoning microbe is an affront to hospital sterility: C. difficile clade A is resistant to antibiotics and disinfectants, and craves sweets and carbs. The pudding cups and instant mashed potatoes that define hospital dining are prime targets for these strains.

這種迅速生長的微生物是對醫(yī)院無菌性的公然挑釁：艱難梭菌A對抗生素和消毒劑有抵抗力，渴望甜食和碳水化合物。而布丁杯和速溶土豆泥是這些菌株的主要目標。

That many within a clinic’s walls are defenseless to looming illness, demonstrated by recent estimates that one in five C. diff patients will be readmitted to the hospital, makes this development all the more alarming.

最近的一項估計顯示，五分之一的C. diff患者將再次入院，這表明，診所圍墻內(nèi)的許多人對即將到來的疾病毫無抵抗力，這使得這種發(fā)展更加令人擔憂。

The strains within the clade A category came to be some 76,000 years ago, but study findings show that they really began to thrive during the 17th century — a time when modern medical concepts began to take hold. (For example, the grandfather of microbiology, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, first observed bacteria under a microscope in 1676.)

A類分支中的菌株大約在76000年前出現(xiàn)，但研究結(jié)果表明，它們真正開始繁榮是在17世紀——當時現(xiàn)代醫(yī)學(xué)概念開始占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位。(例如，微生物學(xué)之父安東尼·范·列文虎克(Antonie van Leeuwenhoek)于1676年首次在顯微鏡下觀察到細菌。)

“Our study provides genome and laboratory-based evidence that human lifestyles can drive bacteria to form new species so they can spread more effectively,” concludes Trevor Lawley, a senior author with the Wellcome Sanger study. “We show that strains of C. difficile bacteria have continued to evolve in response to modern diets and healthcare systems and reveal that focusing on diet [which hospitals are already beginning to do] and looking for new disinfectants could help in the fight against this bacteria.”

“我們的研究提供了基因組和基于實驗室的證據(jù)，證明人類的生活方式可以促使細菌形成新的物種，從而更有效地傳播，”威康桑格研究的資深作者特雷弗·勞利總結(jié)道。“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)艱難梭菌的菌株隨著現(xiàn)代飲食和醫(yī)療保健系統(tǒng)的發(fā)展而不斷進化，并提醒相關(guān)負責主體確切的關(guān)注飲食(醫(yī)院已經(jīng)開始這樣做了)和尋找新的消毒劑，將有助于對抗這種細菌。”