科学家警告说，有证据表明百日咳正在演变成一种“超级细菌”

科学家警告说，有证据表明百日咳正在演变成一种“超级细菌”

It starts off like an ordinary cold, but it doesn't end like one. Whooping cough, aka the '100-day cough', is a highly contagious bacterial disease that infects millions of people around the world, killing tens of thousands every year.

它开始时像普通感冒，但结束时却不像。百日咳是一种高度传染性的细菌性疾病，每年感染全球数百万人，导致数万人死亡。

Fortunately, vaccines to protect us from the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes whooping cough have been around since the mid-20th century, shielding people from the intense, sometimes fatal respiratory symptoms. Unfortunately, B. pertussis is not standing still.

幸运的是，预防百日咳的博德泰拉百日咳杆菌的疫苗早在20世纪中期就出现了，它使人们免受剧烈的、有时是致命的呼吸道症状的侵害。不幸的是，百日咳并不是原地踏步的。

We found the whooping cough strains were evolving to improve their survival, regardless of whether a person was vaccinated or not, explains microbiologist Laurence Luu from UNSW.

来自新南威尔士大学的微生物学家Laurence Luu解释说:“我们发现百日咳菌株正在进化，以提高它们的存活率，而不管一个人是否接种了疫苗。”

Put simply, the bacteria that cause whooping cough are becoming better at hiding and better at feeding – they're morphing into a superbug.

“简单地说，导致百日咳的细菌变得更善于隐藏和喂养——它们正在变成一种超级细菌。”

According to the findings, which used a technique called 'surface shaving' to analyse proteins that envelop B. pertussis at the cellular level, the strains studied were seen to be producing more nutrient-binding proteins and transport proteins, but fewer immunogenic proteins, when compared to previous research on the bacterium.

这项研究使用了一种名为“表面刮毛”的技术，在细胞水平上分析包膜百日咳杆菌的蛋白质。研究发现，与以前对这种细菌的研究相比，研究菌株产生了更多的营养结合蛋白和运输蛋白，但产生的免疫原性蛋白更少。

The researchers say these new changes in B. pertussis mean that the bacteria may be "metabolically fitter" than previous generations, and can more efficiently scavenge nutrients from hosts, while avoiding the host's immune system responses.

研究人员表示，百日咳杆菌的这些新变化意味着，这种细菌可能比前几代细菌“新陈代谢更健康”，能够更有效地从宿主体内吸收营养，同时避免宿主的免疫系统做出反应。

In addition, because the evolved forms might not trigger immune responses as much, it's possible people could be carrying an infection without realising, since fewer symptoms would show.

此外，由于进化的形式可能不会引发那么多的免疫反应，人们可能在没有意识到的情况下携带了一种感染，因为会出现更少的症状。

The bacteria might still colonise you and survive without causing the disease, says Luu.

Luu说:“这些细菌可能还会在你体内繁殖，并在不引起疾病的情况下存活下来。”

You probably wouldn't know you've been infected with the whooping cough bacteria because you don't get the symptoms.

“你可能不知道你已经感染了百日咳，因为你没有症状。”