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【Designing an Alternative to Antibiotics】
TEXT：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。
In nineteen twenty-eight a British scientist made a "chance observation." He noticed that some mold had grown in bacteria in a culture plate in his laboratory. Molds can do that. But this mold that had somehow gotten into the plate had the ability to kill the bacteria around it.
1928年，一名英國科學家做了一次“機遇觀察”。他注意到，一些霉菌在他實驗室的培養皿里的細菌中生長出來。霉菌可以做到這點。但是，這種不知怎樣進入培養皿的霉菌具有殺死周圍細菌的能力。
The scientist, Alexander Fleming, found that the mold was a member of a common group known as Penicillium. Fleming and two other scientists -- Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey -- went on to win the Nobel Prize in nineteen forty-five. They were honored "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases."
這名科學家， Alexander Fleming發現，這種霉菌是青霉素的一種。Fleming和另外兩名科學家， Ernst Boris Chain以及Howard Walter Florey隨后獲得1945年的諾貝爾獎。他們因為發現青霉素及其在各種感染性疾病中的療效而獲獎。
Other powerful antibiotics have been discovered since penicillin. But many antibiotics have become less and less effective as the germs they are designed to kill develop resistance.
自青霉素之后，其它強效的抗生素陸續被發現。但是，許多抗生素的療效變得越來越差，這是由于它們被設計用于殺死的細菌產生了耐藥性。
So scientists are searching for new ways to treat infections. Now, researchers in Australia say they have made a important discovery. Scientists at Monash University in Melbourne believe an antibacterial viral protein called PlyC could be used as an alternative to antibiotics.
因此，科學家們正在尋找新的方法來治療感染。現在，澳大利亞的研究人員稱，他們取得了重要發現。墨爾本莫納什大學的科學家認為，一種被稱為PlyC的抗菌病毒蛋白質可以替代抗生素。
This protein was first identified as a possible treatment for infections in nineteen twenty-five. But the research ended following the discovery of antibiotics.
1925年，該蛋白質首次被視為感染的可能治療方案。但隨著抗生素的發現這一研究終止了。
Now, scientists have spent six years studying the structure of the protein. They have found how it kills the bacteria that cause sore throats, pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
現在，科學家們花了六年時間研究這種蛋白質的結構。他們已經發現這種蛋白質是如何殺死會引起喉嚨痛、肺炎和鏈球菌中毒性休克綜合征的細菌。
Australian researchers worked with scientists at the Rockefeller University in New York and the University of Maryland. Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
澳大利亞研究人員與紐約洛克菲勒大學以及馬里蘭大學的科學家一起合作。他們的研究刊登在在《國家科學院學報》上。
Dr. Sheena McGowan from Monash University describes the protein as a powerful bacterial killing machine. She says it looks like a flying saucer carrying a pair of warheads. It connects to the surface of the bacterium and then cuts though the outside to destroy it.
莫納什大學的Sheena McGowan博士稱這種蛋白質是一種強大的殺菌機器。她說，這種細菌看上去像攜帶了一對彈頭的飛碟，它連接到細菌表面，然后從外部切斷并摧毀它。
Sheena McGowan says it could be highly valuable when conditions like pneumonia do not respond to traditional treatments.
Sheena McGowan稱，這種蛋白質是非常寶貴的，像肺炎對傳統療法不響應這種情況。
SHEENA MCGOWAN: "There's antibiotics at the moment for those particular types of diseases. We sort of see that there's a bit of resistance being built up in the bacterial community almost, and some of our antibiotics aren't quite as effective as they used to be. So this kind of ground route, basic research needs to be done quite early so that we have some time to develop them as safe human therapeutic over the timeframe when the antibiotics can keep working."
SHEENA MCGOWAN：“目前對這些特定類型的疾病都有對應的抗生素。我們看到，細菌菌群正在產生一些耐藥性，而有些抗生素沒有以前那么有效。所以這種基礎研究需要比較早進行，這樣才能在抗生素還有效的這樣一段時期，讓我們有時間將這種蛋白質開發成安全的人類療法。”
The researchers have been studying PlyC's atomic structure to try to develop a drug. They say they have had success in treating streptococcal infections in mice. But an effective human treatment in the form of a pill or nasal spray may be at least ten years away.
研究人員一直在研究PlyC的原子結構，并嘗試開發一種藥物。他們說，他們已經成功治療了感染鏈球菌的小老鼠。但有效治療人類的藥丸或鼻腔噴霧形式可能至少需要十年。
