研制一种更好的流感疫苗——你不必每年都接种

研制一种更好的流感疫苗——你不必每年都接种

On June 24 at 11:34 AM, Michael Sonn became a part of medical history.

6月24日上午11点34分，迈克尔·索恩成为了医疗史的一部分。

That's the day Sonn became one of the first people to receive an experimental flu vaccine that could one day radically change the shot you get every year.

就在那一天，索恩成为第一批接受试验性流感疫苗的人之一，这种疫苗有一天会彻底改变你每年注射的疫苗。

If all goes well, this new shot would last for multiple flu seasons, so you wouldn't have to roll up your sleeve every fall and -- importantly -- it would be more effective than the shot you get now. Way more effective.

如果一切顺利，这种新的疫苗将持续多个流感季节，所以你不必每年秋天都卷起袖子，而且——重要的是——它将比你现在得到的疫苗更有效。更有效的方式。

Michael Sonn receives follow-up testing after becoming one of the first people to receive an experimental "universal" flu vaccine as part of a clinical drug trial at the National Institutes of Health.

美国国家卫生研究院的临床药物试验中，迈克尔·索恩成为首批接受试验性“通用”流感疫苗的人之一，随后他接受了后续测试。

While the current flu shot keeps millions of people from getting the flu every year, it's far from perfect.

虽然目前的流感疫苗每年都能防止数百万人感染流感，但它还远远不够完美。

"Even on a good year, the effectiveness of the vaccine is about 60%. On a bad year, it's as low as 10%," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). "And there's a reason for that."

美国国家过敏与传染病研究所(NIAID)主任安东尼·福奇博士说：“即使是在好年份，疫苗的有效性也大约是60%。在不好的年份，疫苗的有效性低至10%。这是有原因的。”

The reason is that the flu virus is constantly changing. Strains that wreak havoc one flu season are gone the next, replaced by strains that maybe haven't been around for years.

原因是流感病毒在不断变化。在一个流感季节造成严重破坏的病毒株在下一个季节就会消失，取而代之的是可能已经消失多年的病毒株。

"Flu is really scary and tricky," said Dr. Julie Ledgerwood, chief of the clinical trials program for the Vaccine Research Center at NIAID, which is a part of the National Institutes of Health, and one of several sites around the US participating in the vaccine trial.

美国国家卫生研究院下属的NIAID疫苗研究中心临床试验项目负责人朱莉·莱杰伍德博士说，“流感真的很可怕，很棘手。”该中心是美国各地参与疫苗试验的几个地点之一。

With the seasonal vaccines we receive now, each shot can only protect against three or four strains of the flu -- meaning scientists have to make an educated guess about which strains to put in it every year.

现在我们接种的季节性流感疫苗，每一针只能预防三到四种类型的流感——这意味着科学家们必须对每年接种哪种类型的流感做出有根据的猜测。

Last spring, doctors at the NIH started testing universal flu shots on Sonn and other study participants to see how their bodies respond.

去年春天，美国国立卫生研究院的医生开始在索恩和其他研究参与者身上测试通用流感疫苗，以观察他们的身体反应。

The volunteers all have different reasons for wanting to be a part of this historic study.

志愿者都有不同的原因想要成为这个历史研究的一部分。

"I have a personal connection to the flu," Sonn explained. "My grandfather was orphaned due to the flu epidemic in April 1919."

“我个人与流感有联系，”索恩解释说。1919年4月，我的祖父因流感而成为孤儿。

The 1918-1919 Spanish flu pandemic infected a third of the world's population and killed 50 million people.

1918年至1919年的西班牙流感大流行感染了世界三分之一的人口，造成5000万人死亡。

Losing his parents at 6 years old left a mark on Sonn's grandfather, and subsequently on Sonn himself.

6岁时父母双亡给索恩的祖父留下了深刻的印象，后来也影响了索恩自己。

"He really had great trust in science and medical research, so I know he would be proud I'm taking part in this," Sonn said.

“他真的非常信任科学和医学研究，所以我知道他会为我参加这个项目而感到骄傲，” 索恩说。

One of the most useful things about the universal flu shot is that if it works out as hoped, it will also protect against flu pandemics like the one that killed Sonn's great-grandparents.

通用流感疫苗最有用的地方之一是，如果它如人们所希望的那样奏效，它还将预防流感大流行，就像杀死索恩的曾祖父母的流感一样那样。

In a flu pandemic, a new strain of flu virus emerges. Since very few people have immunity to it, it can spread quickly and easily.

在流感大流行中，会出现一种新的流感病毒。由于很少有人对它有免疫力，它可以迅速和容易地传播。

There have been four flu pandemics in the past century: in 1918-1919; in 1957-1958; in 1968; and in 2009.

在过去的一个世纪里发生了四次流感大流行:1918-1919年;在1957 - 1958年;在1968年;在2009年。

The NIH has been working on the universal flu shot for about a decade, but it will be at least another decade until it comes to market.

美国国立卫生研究院已经研究了大约十年的通用流感疫苗，但它至少还需要十年才能进入市场。