男人更容易感染新冠病毒

Men’s blood has higher levels than women’s of a key enzyme used by the new coronavirus to infect cells, the results of a big European study showed on Monday — a finding which may help explain why men are more vulnerable to infection with COVID-19.

周一，一項歐洲的大型研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，一種新冠病毒用來感染細(xì)胞的關(guān)鍵的酶在男性血液中的含量高于女性。這一結(jié)果可能有助于解釋為什么男人更容易感染新冠病毒。

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is found in the heart, kidneys and other organs. In COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, it is thought to play a role in how the infection progresses into the lungs.

ACE2(血管緊張素轉(zhuǎn)換酶2)可以在心臟、腎臟和其他器官中發(fā)現(xiàn)。在由新型冠狀病毒引起的呼吸系統(tǒng)疾病新冠肺炎中，這種酶被認(rèn)為在肺部感染過程中起到一定作用。

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, also found that widely-prescribed drugs called ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) did not lead to higher ACE2 concentrations and should therefore not increase the COVID-19 risk for people taking them.

這項研究發(fā)表在《歐洲心臟雜志》上，研究也發(fā)現(xiàn)最常開的藥物ARB(血管緊張素Ⅱ受體阻滯劑)并不會導(dǎo)致ACE2濃度升高，因此不會提高用這種藥的人感染新冠病毒的風(fēng)險。

ACE inhibitors and ARBs are widely prescribed to patients with congestive heart failure, diabetes or kidney disease. The drugs account for billions of dollars in prescription sales worldwide.

ACE抑制劑和ARB是心衰、糖尿病或腎病病人常開的藥。這些藥在全球處方藥銷售額中占到數(shù)十億美元。

“Our findings do not support the discontinuation of these drugs in COVID-19 patients,” said Adriaan Voors, a professor of cardiology at the University Medical Center (UMC) Groningen in The Netherlands, who co-led the study.

荷蘭格羅寧根大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)中心的心臟病學(xué)教授Adriaan Voors是此項研究的共同作者，他說：“我們的發(fā)現(xiàn)不贊成停止給新冠病人使用這些藥物。”

The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 4 million people worldwide and killed almost 277,000, according to a tally. Death and infection tolls point to men being more likely than women to contract the disease and to suffer severe or critical complications if they do.

據(jù)統(tǒng)計，全球新冠病毒感染人數(shù)超過400萬，死亡人數(shù)達277,000。從死亡人數(shù)和感染人數(shù)來看，男人比女人更容易感染，感染以后也會有嚴(yán)重或致命的并發(fā)癥。