2022年10月24日 VOA慢速英语：中世纪瘟疫可能塑造了人类的免疫力

 

Genes that helped people survive the plague hundreds of years ago may have made people more vulnerable to some diseases today, a new study says.
一项新的研究表明，数百年前帮助人们在瘟疫中幸存下来的基因可能使今天的人们更容易感染某些疾病。
 
The information is a good example of the way germs shape us over time, scientists said in the new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
科学家们在周三发表在《自然》杂志上的新研究中说，这些信息很好地说明了细菌随着时间的推移塑造我们的方式。
 
"Our genome today is a reflection of our whole evolutionary history," said Luis Barreiro. He is one of the writers of the research. Some germs, like those behind the bubonic plague, have had a big effect on our immune systems.
“我们今天的基因组反映了我们整个进化史，”路易斯巴雷罗说。他是该研究的作者之一。一些细菌，比如腺鼠疫背后的细菌，对我们的免疫系统产生了很大的影响。
 
The Black Death in the 14th century was the single deadliest event in recorded history. It spread through Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, killing 30 to 50 percent of the population.
14 世纪的黑死病是有记录以来最致命的事件。它传播到欧洲、中东和北非，造成 30% 到 50% 的人口死亡。
 
Barreiro worked with partners at the University of Chicago, McMaster University in Ontario and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. They examined ancient DNA samples from the bones of more than 200 people from London and Denmark. The people died during a 100-year period before, during and after the Black Death went through that area.
Barreiro 与芝加哥大学、安大略省麦克马斯特大学和巴黎巴斯德研究所的合作伙伴合作。他们检查了来自伦敦和丹麦的 200 多人骨骼的古代 DNA 样本。这些人在黑死病肆虐该地区之前、之中和之后的 100 年期间死亡。
 
They identified four genes that, depending on the version, either protected against or increased vulnerability to the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. The plague is most often spread by the bite of an infected flea.
他们确定了四个基因，根据版本的不同，它们可以保护或增加对引起腺鼠疫的细菌的脆弱性。鼠疫最常通过受感染的跳蚤叮咬传播。
 
 
They found that what helped people in ancient times led to problems generations later. Some of the same genetic versions identified as protective against the plague are connected to certain diseases, like Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. In these sorts of diseases, the immune system that defends the body against disease and infection attacks the body's own healthy tissues. When that happens, it is called a hyperactive immune system.
他们发现，在古代帮助人们的东西会导致几代人之后出现问题。一些被确定为对鼠疫具有保护作用的相同基因版本与某些疾病有关，如克罗恩病、类风湿性关节炎和狼疮。在这些疾病中，保护身体免受疾病和感染的免疫系统会攻击身体自身的健康组织。当这种情况发生时，它被称为过度活跃的免疫系统。
 
"A hyperactive immune system may have been great in the past but in the environment today it might not be as helpful," said Hendrik Poinar. He in an anthropology professor at McMaster and another writer of the new study.
“过度活跃的免疫系统在过去可能很棒，但在今天的环境中它可能没有那么有用，”Hendrik Poinar 说。他在麦克马斯特大学的人类学教授和另一位新研究的作者。
 
Past research has also sought to examine how the Black Death affected the human genome. But Barreiro said he believes his team's study is the first to show that the Black Death was important to the evolution of the human immune system. One important part of the study, he said, was to center on a given time window around the event.
过去的研究还试图研究黑死病如何影响人类基因组。但巴雷罗说，他相信他的团队的研究首次表明黑死病对人类免疫系统的进化很重要。他说，这项研究的一个重要部分是以事件发生的给定时间窗口为中心。
 
Monica H. Green is a writer and historian of medicine who has studied the Black Death. She said the research includes important issues, like how the same version of a gene can protect people from a bad infection, but and also put modern people at risk for other illnesses.
Monica H. Green 是一位研究黑死病的作家和医学历史学家。她说，这项研究包括重要问题，例如同一版本的基因如何保护人们免受严重感染，但同时也使现代人面临其他疾病的风险。
 
There is also a question of how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect human evolution. Barreiro said does not think it will have a big effect because COVID is much less deadly than the Black Death.
还有一个问题是 COVID-19 大流行将如何影响人类进化。巴雷罗说，他认为这不会产生太大影响，因为新冠病毒的致命性远低于黑死病。
 
In the future, however, he said more deadly pandemics will continue to shape us at the most basic level.
然而，他说，未来更多致命的流行病将继续在最基本的层面上塑造我们。
 
"It's not going to stop," Barreiro said. "It's going to keep going for sure."
“它不会停止，”巴雷罗说。“它肯定会继续下去。”