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Snakes still kill tens of thousands of people each year.
每年仍有成千上萬人喪命于毒蛇之口。
Giving the antidote quickly can be the difference between life and death.
而能否快速接受解毒劑治療直接關(guān)乎生死。
But many bite victims cannot identify the species of their slithering assailants.
但很多被咬傷的受害者甚至無法辨認這些蛇的種類。
Which leaves health care workers to make educated guesses about treatment.
這就造成醫(yī)護工作者們在進行治療時只能依照過往經(jīng)驗推測。
Now a first-of-its-kind study finds that it's possible to analyze snake DNA left in the victim's wound to identify the snake—and thus the correct antivenom.
而現(xiàn)在一項史無前例的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)通過分析留在受害者傷口內(nèi)的DNA可以鑒定蛇的種類—從而能夠進一步提供解毒劑。
The preliminary findings were presented November 4th at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans.
這項初步發(fā)現(xiàn)是在11月4日新奧爾良召開的美國熱帶醫(yī)學與衛(wèi)生學會上提出。
Researchers collected samples from fang wounds from 749 people at three health centers in Nepal.
研究人員從尼泊爾3家衛(wèi)生中心的749名傷者身上提取了傷口樣本。
They isolated snake DNA, sequenced it and compared it to sequences in a snake DNA database.
他們分離出DNA，進行排序，然后在蛇的DNA數(shù)據(jù)庫中的進行比較篩選。
Ultimately they managed to identify snakes responsible for 194 bites, 87 of which had harmful venom.
最終他們成功鑒別出咬傷194名傷者的兇手，而其中87種帶有毒液。
Such intricate genetic analysis is still not available in most settings, but could lead to speedier diagnostic methods for bite victims.
這種復雜的基因分析在大多數(shù)情況下仍不可行，但能加快傷者的處理。
The research team hopes to devise a fast test that would at least rule out certain common venomous snakes.
研究小組希望能夠設(shè)計出一種快速排除常見毒蛇的測試。
The test would analyze DNA along bite marks and scan it for telltale signs of specific poisonous predators.
這種測試可通過咬痕分析DNA，然后進行掃描找出特定毒蛇的特征。
