研制一種更好的流感疫苗——你不必每年都接種

研制一種更好的流感疫苗——你不必每年都接種

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

6月24日上午11點(diǎn)34分，邁克爾·索恩成為了醫(yī)療史的一部分。

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，索恩成為第一批接受試驗(yàn)性流感疫苗的人之一，這種疫苗有一天會(huì)徹底改變你每年注射的疫苗。

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.

如果一切順利，這種新的疫苗將持續(xù)多個(gè)流感季節(jié)，所以你不必每年秋天都卷起袖子，而且——重要的是——它將比你現(xiàn)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.

美國(guó)國(guó)家衛(wèi)生研究院的臨床藥物試驗(yàn)中，邁克爾·索恩成為首批接受試驗(yàn)性“通用”流感疫苗的人之一，隨后他接受了后續(xù)測(cè)試。

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

雖然目前的流感疫苗每年都能防止數(shù)百萬(wàn)人感染流感，但它還遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠完美。

"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."

美國(guó)國(guó)家過(guò)敏與傳染病研究所(NIAID)主任安東尼·福奇博士說(shuō)：“即使是在好年份，疫苗的有效性也大約是60%。在不好的年份，疫苗的有效性低至10%。這是有原因的。”

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斷變化。在一個(gè)流感季節(jié)造成嚴(yán)重破壞的病毒株在下一個(gè)季節(jié)就會(huì)消失，取而代之的是可能已經(jīng)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.

美國(guó)國(guó)家衛(wèi)生研究院下屬的NIAID疫苗研究中心臨床試驗(yàn)項(xiàng)目負(fù)責(zé)人朱莉·萊杰伍德博士說(shuō)，“流感真的很可怕，很棘手。”該中心是美國(guó)各地參與疫苗試驗(yàn)的幾個(gè)地點(diǎn)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.

現(xiàn)在我們接種的季節(jié)性流感疫苗，每一針只能預(yù)防三到四種類型的流感——這意味著科學(xué)家們必須對(duì)每年接種哪種類型的流感做出有根據(jù)的猜測(cè)。

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，美國(guó)國(guó)立衛(wèi)生研究院的醫(yī)生開(kāi)始在索恩和其他研究參與者身上測(cè)試通用流感疫苗，以觀察他們的身體反應(yīng)。

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為這個(gè)歷史研究的一部分。

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

“我個(gè)人與流感有聯(lián)系，”索恩解釋說(shuō)。1919年4月，我的祖父因流感而成為孤兒。

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5000萬(wàn)人死亡。

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

6歲時(shí)父母雙亡給索恩的祖父留下了深刻的印象，后來(lái)也影響了索恩自己。

"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.

“他真的非常信任科學(xué)和醫(yī)學(xué)研究，所以我知道他會(huì)為我參加這個(gè)項(xiàng)目而感到驕傲，” 索恩說(shuō)。

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，如果它如人們所希望的那樣奏效，它還將預(yù)防流感大流行，就像殺死索恩的曾祖父母的流感一樣那樣。

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，會(huì)出現(xiàn)一種新的流感病毒。由于很少有人對(duì)它有免疫力，它可以迅速和容易地傳播。

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

在過(guò)去的一個(gè)世紀(jì)里發(fā)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.

美國(guó)國(guó)立衛(wèi)生研究院已經(jīng)研究了大約十年的通用流感疫苗，但它至少還需要十年才能進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)。