北京霧霾暗藏“超級(jí)細(xì)菌”，嚇壞居民

BEIJING — A report that Beijing’s already notorious smog contained bacteria with antibiotic-resistant genes spread through the city last week like pathogens in a pandemic disaster movie.

北京——上周，有一則新聞就像是傳染病災(zāi)難片中的病原體一樣席卷了北京城，報(bào)道稱，在北京已經(jīng)臭名昭著的霧霾里，一些細(xì)菌具有抗生素耐藥性基因。

“Drug-resistant bacteria make people very afraid,” The Beijing Evening News said in an article reposted by Xinhua, the state news agency, after a scientific study by Swedish researchers drew interest during yet another flare-up of hazardous smog.

在新一輪有害健康的霧霾爆發(fā)期間，瑞典研究人員的一項(xiàng)科學(xué)研究吸引了人們的興趣。“耐藥菌讓很多人感到非常害怕，”《北京晚報(bào)》在官方通訊社新華社轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)的一篇文章中說(shuō)。

The study, published in October in the journal Microbiome, found antibiotic-resistant genetic material in the smog but no evidence of live bacteria capable of infecting anyone.

這項(xiàng)研究今年10月發(fā)表在《微生物》(Microbiome)雜志上，研究人員在北京的霧霾中發(fā)現(xiàn)了含有抗生素耐藥性的遺傳物質(zhì)，不過(guò)沒(méi)有證據(jù)表明活體細(xì)菌可以感染任何人。

That did not make residents of Beijing feel much better, though.

但是，這并沒(méi)有讓北京居民的感覺(jué)好多少。

The actress Zhang Ziyi perhaps best summed up the feelings among many of Beijing’s 22 million residents by writing on her Weibo account on Saturday that the smog made her want to pick up her 11-month-old daughter and fly away. Ms. Zhang worried that it “made it easier to get sick.”

演員章子怡或許最好地總結(jié)了北京2200萬(wàn)居民中許多人的感受。她上周六在自己的微博賬號(hào)上寫道，霧霾令她想要帶著11個(gè)月大的女兒上飛機(jī)走人。章子怡擔(dān)心它讓人“更容易生病”。

By Monday, most Chinese news reports speculating about the threat had been taken offline, replaced by articles quoting an unidentified expert from the city’s Health Department advising that there was nothing to worry about.

至周一，大多數(shù)對(duì)這種威脅進(jìn)行猜測(cè)的中文新聞報(bào)道都已撤掉，替換為援引市衛(wèi)計(jì)委未指明身份的專家的話所做的報(bào)道，后者表示沒(méi)什么可擔(dān)心的。

But to cynical Chinese, accustomed to chronic smog and other health hazards including melamine in baby milk powder, the use of recycled oil in restaurants and clenbuterol-fed pigs, the censorship and rebuttals merely signaled that there was, perhaps, something to worry about.

然而對(duì)充滿懷疑的中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，審查和反駁僅僅意味著，或許真的有什么值得擔(dān)心的地方。他們習(xí)慣了長(zhǎng)期存在的霧霾和其他有害健康的事物，包括嬰兒奶粉中的三聚氰胺、餐館里使用的回收油，以及喂了瘦肉精的豬。

“Speechless!” and “Run, here comes an expert!” were two typical comments circulating online, now deleted.

“無(wú)語(yǔ)!”和“快跑，專家來(lái)了!”是網(wǎng)上流傳的兩種典型評(píng)論，它們現(xiàn)在已遭刪除。

“Hurry and develop a face mask that keeps out harmful bacteria and superbugs,” a user identified as Hengkong chushi wrote in response to an article on Tencent, titled: “Officials Respond to Beijing’s Antibiotic-Resistant Smog Superbugs: No Harm to Humans.”

“趕快研制一種口罩，擋住有害菌，吸進(jìn)超級(jí)菌。”一位名為“橫空出世”的用戶在騰訊新聞發(fā)布的一篇文章下評(píng)論道。這篇文章的標(biāo)題是《官方回應(yīng)北京霧霾現(xiàn)耐藥“超級(jí)菌”：對(duì)人體無(wú)害》。

“Don’t just say ‘no harm,’” another commenter named Sun Rain wrote. “Hurry up and develop new laws and new drugs, to fend off a major peril that could develop.”

“別先說(shuō)無(wú)害，”另一位名為“太陽(yáng)雨”的用戶寫道。“趕快研發(fā)新法新藥，預(yù)防萬(wàn)一發(fā)生大規(guī)模危害吧。”

Though fears of airborne bacteria were unfounded, there is a growing health problem of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are heavily overprescribed in China, doctors and researchers say.

盡管對(duì)空氣中浮游菌的擔(dān)憂沒(méi)什么依據(jù)，但是由抗生素耐藥性帶來(lái)的健康問(wèn)題卻日益增多。醫(yī)生和研究人員表示，在中國(guó)抗生素被醫(yī)生濫開(kāi)的情況很嚴(yán)重。

The study said “very little if anything about risks for acquiring an infection from breathing urban air,” Joakim Larsson, one of the authors of the study, a professor of environmental pharmacology at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy and director of its Center for Antibiotic Resistance Research, wrote in an email responding to a request for comment.

該研究的作者之一、哥德堡大學(xué)薩爾格倫斯卡醫(yī)學(xué)院(University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy)環(huán)境藥理學(xué)教授兼抗生素耐藥性研究中心(Center for Antibiotic Resistance Research)主任約阿基姆·拉松(Joakim Larsson)在回應(yīng)時(shí)報(bào)置評(píng)請(qǐng)求的郵件中寫道：這項(xiàng)研究幾乎沒(méi)有提及“因在城市里呼吸空氣而感染的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)”。

In the report, the researchers studied different locations around the world for antibiotic-resistant genes, including the human gut, the skin, wastewater, soil, pharmaceutically polluted sites and, in an apparent innovation, Beijing smog.

在這份報(bào)告中，研究人員研究了全世界的不同地點(diǎn)，尋找耐抗生素基因，包括人類的內(nèi)臟、皮膚、廢水、土壤、遭到藥物污染的地點(diǎn)，還有北京的霧霾——顯然是一種創(chuàng)新的選擇。

In what they described as “a limited set of deeply sequenced air samples from a Beijing smog event,” they identified about 64 types of antibiotic-resistant genes, making Beijing smog one of two environments with “the largest relative abundance and/or diversity” of antibiotic-resistant genes, including genes with resistance to last-resort antibiotics. The other, already known, is environments polluted by pharmaceutical factories.

在被他們描述為“從北京一個(gè)有霧霾的場(chǎng)合獲取的有限的一系列詳盡排序的空氣樣本”中，他們找到了64種耐抗生素基因，這讓北京的霧霾成為耐抗生素基因“相對(duì)豐度或多樣性最大的”兩種環(huán)境之一，其中包含對(duì)最強(qiáng)大的抗生素有耐藥性的基因。另一種已經(jīng)為人知的環(huán)境，是被制藥廠污染的地方。

“We have studied DNA from bacteria in the air and found a large variety of genes that can make bacteria resistant to antibiotics, including some of the most powerful antibiotics we have,” Mr. Larsson wrote in the email. “This was a surprising finding to us, and we think it warrants further studies.”

“我們研究了空氣中細(xì)菌里的DNA，發(fā)現(xiàn)了許多種可以讓病菌對(duì)抗生素產(chǎn)生抵抗力的基因，包括我們擁有的一些力量最強(qiáng)的抗生素，”拉松在郵件中寫道。“對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)，這是一個(gè)意外的發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們認(rèn)為有必要對(duì)它展開(kāi)進(jìn)一步的研究。”

Others appeared to agree.

其他人似乎也這么認(rèn)為。

“This is important work that may provide insights into the dissemination of antibiotic resistance not only in Beijing but in other cities as well,” W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, wrote in an email.

“這是很重要的工作，不僅可以為北京，也可以為其他城市的抗生素耐藥性傳播提供啟示，”哥倫比亞大學(xué)梅爾曼公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院(Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health)感染與免疫研究中心主任W·伊恩·李普金(W. Ian Lipkin)在一封郵件中寫道。

“It’s not clear that bacteria in smog are a health threat,” Dr. Lipkin wrote, noting that smog may be the more likely cause of health problems.

“目前還不能確定，霧霾中的細(xì)菌是否會(huì)對(duì)健康構(gòu)成威脅，”李普金寫道，同時(shí)指出霧霾更有可能帶來(lái)健康問(wèn)題。

“What is clear is that the air isn’t clear. Pollution results in damage to airways that increases susceptibility to a wide range of viruses as well as bacteria,” he wrote.

“可以確定的是，那里的空氣不干凈。污染給肺的氣道帶來(lái)破壞，令人更容易感染種類繁多的病毒和細(xì)菌，”他寫道。

“One question not addressed is whether smog stabilizes bacteria in a way that normal air does not,” he added. “Bacteria probably don’t replicate in the air. More likely that they settle somewhere and do, exchanging genetic material in liquid or on surfaces.”

“有一個(gè)疑問(wèn)沒(méi)有解決，那就是霧霾是否在某種程度上以一種普通空氣無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)的方式令細(xì)菌保持了穩(wěn)定，”他接著寫道。“細(xì)菌可能不會(huì)在空氣中繁殖。它們更有可能在某些地方停下來(lái)，進(jìn)行繁殖，在液體或某些物質(zhì)表面交換遺傳物質(zhì)。”

State news outlets are dispensing health advice: To minimize illness during smog attacks, get enough sleep, eat foods that help you expectorate, flush out your nose with saltwater and wash your hands.

官方媒體機(jī)構(gòu)給人們提供的健康建議是：為在霧霾天氣里將患病的幾率降到最低，應(yīng)保持充足的睡眠，注意飲食清淡，勤洗手和用鹽水洗鼻。

Heavy smog was predicted again in Beijing for three days, starting on Friday.

預(yù)計(jì)從周五開(kāi)始，為期三天的重度霧霾將再度降臨北京。