百日咳細菌變異成超級細菌，呼吁研制新疫苗

百日咳細菌變異成超級細菌，呼吁研制新疫苗

There are calls for a new vaccine with research showing whooping cough bacteria are becoming smarter at colonising and feeding off unwitting hosts - whether they have been vaccinated or not.

有研究表明，百日咳細菌在不知不覺中寄生和吞噬宿主方面變得越來越聰明，因此人們呼吁研制一種新的疫苗——不管這些宿主是否接種過疫苗。

The research, conducted by the University of NSW, indicates Australia needs a new whooping cough vaccine to ensure our most vulnerable are protected from the emergence of superbug strains.

這項由新南威爾士大學(xué)進行的研究表明，澳大利亞需要一種新的百日咳疫苗，以確保我們最脆弱的人群免受超級細菌株的侵襲。

The current vaccine, widely used since 2000, targets three antigens in the bacteria of the highly contagious respiratory disease which can be fatal to infants.

目前的疫苗從2000年開始廣泛使用，目標(biāo)是三種高傳染性呼吸道疾病細菌中的抗原，這種疾病對嬰兒是致命的。

All babies under six months old – in particular, newborns not protected by maternal immunisation – are at risk of catching the vaccine-preventable disease because they are either too young to be vaccinated or have not yet completed the three-dose primary vaccine course.

所有6個月以下的嬰兒——特別是沒有得到母親免疫接種保護的新生兒——都有感染疫苗可預(yù)防疾病的風(fēng)險，因為他們要么太小無法接種疫苗，要么尚未完成三劑初級疫苗療程。

Australia's whooping cough epidemic from 2008 to 2012 saw more than 140,000 cases – with a peak of almost 40,000 in 2011 – and revealed the rise of evolving strains able to evade vaccine-generated immunity.

從2008年到2012年，澳大利亞的百日咳疫情共出現(xiàn)了14萬多例病例，2011年的峰值為近4萬例。這表明，能夠逃避疫苗產(chǎn)生的免疫的進化毒株正在增多。

In a series of UNSW studies, with the latest published today, researchers took this knowledge further and showed, in a world-first discovery, the evolving strains made additional changes to better survive in their host, regardless of that person's vaccination status. They also identified new antigens as potential vaccine targets.

在新南威爾士大學(xué)的一系列研究中(今天最新發(fā)表)，研究人員進一步研究了這一知識，并在一項世界首次發(fā)現(xiàn)中表明，進化的菌株為了更好地在宿主體內(nèi)生存而做出了額外的改變，而不管宿主的免疫狀況如何。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了新的抗原作為潛在的疫苗靶點。

First author and microbiologist Dr Laurence Luu, who led the team of researchers with Professor Ruiting Lan, said whooping cough's ability to adapt to vaccines and survival in humans might be the answer to its surprise resurgence despite Australia's high vaccination rates.

該研究報告的第一作者、微生物學(xué)家勞倫斯·盧博士與蘭瑞廷教授共同領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了這一研究小組。他說，盡管澳大利亞的疫苗接種率很高，但百日咳對疫苗的適應(yīng)能力和在人體中的生存能力，可能是它出人意料地卷土重來的原因。