2022年10月24日 VOA慢速英語：中世紀瘟疫可能塑造了人類的免疫力

 

Genes that helped people survive the plague hundreds of years ago may have made people more vulnerable to some diseases today, a new study says.
一項新的研究表明，數(shù)百年前幫助人們在瘟疫中幸存下來的基因可能使今天的人們更容易感染某些疾病。
 
The information is a good example of the way germs shape us over time, scientists said in the new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
科學家們在周三發(fā)表在《自然》雜志上的新研究中說，這些信息很好地說明了細菌隨著時間的推移塑造我們的方式。
 
"Our genome today is a reflection of our whole evolutionary history," said Luis Barreiro. He is one of the writers of the research. Some germs, like those behind the bubonic plague, have had a big effect on our immune systems.
“我們今天的基因組反映了我們整個進化史，”路易斯巴雷羅說。他是該研究的作者之一。一些細菌，比如腺鼠疫背后的細菌，對我們的免疫系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生了很大的影響。
 
The Black Death in the 14th century was the single deadliest event in recorded history. It spread through Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, killing 30 to 50 percent of the population.
14 世紀的黑死病是有記錄以來最致命的事件。它傳播到歐洲、中東和北非，造成 30% 到 50% 的人口死亡。
 
Barreiro worked with partners at the University of Chicago, McMaster University in Ontario and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. They examined ancient DNA samples from the bones of more than 200 people from London and Denmark. The people died during a 100-year period before, during and after the Black Death went through that area.
Barreiro 與芝加哥大學、安大略省麥克馬斯特大學和巴黎巴斯德研究所的合作伙伴合作。他們檢查了來自倫敦和丹麥的 200 多人骨骼的古代 DNA 樣本。這些人在黑死病肆虐該地區(qū)之前、之中和之后的 100 年期間死亡。
 
They identified four genes that, depending on the version, either protected against or increased vulnerability to the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. The plague is most often spread by the bite of an infected flea.
他們確定了四個基因，根據(jù)版本的不同，它們可以保護或增加對引起腺鼠疫的細菌的脆弱性。鼠疫最常通過受感染的跳蚤叮咬傳播。
 
 
They found that what helped people in ancient times led to problems generations later. Some of the same genetic versions identified as protective against the plague are connected to certain diseases, like Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. In these sorts of diseases, the immune system that defends the body against disease and infection attacks the body's own healthy tissues. When that happens, it is called a hyperactive immune system.
他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在古代幫助人們的東西會導致幾代人之后出現(xiàn)問題。一些被確定為對鼠疫具有保護作用的相同基因版本與某些疾病有關，如克羅恩病、類風濕性關節(jié)炎和狼瘡。在這些疾病中，保護身體免受疾病和感染的免疫系統(tǒng)會攻擊身體自身的健康組織。當這種情況發(fā)生時，它被稱為過度活躍的免疫系統(tǒng)。
 
"A hyperactive immune system may have been great in the past but in the environment today it might not be as helpful," said Hendrik Poinar. He in an anthropology professor at McMaster and another writer of the new study.
“過度活躍的免疫系統(tǒng)在過去可能很棒，但在今天的環(huán)境中它可能沒有那么有用，”Hendrik Poinar 說。他在麥克馬斯特大學的人類學教授和另一位新研究的作者。
 
Past research has also sought to examine how the Black Death affected the human genome. But Barreiro said he believes his team's study is the first to show that the Black Death was important to the evolution of the human immune system. One important part of the study, he said, was to center on a given time window around the event.
過去的研究還試圖研究黑死病如何影響人類基因組。但巴雷羅說，他相信他的團隊的研究首次表明黑死病對人類免疫系統(tǒng)的進化很重要。他說，這項研究的一個重要部分是以事件發(fā)生的給定時間窗口為中心。
 
Monica H. Green is a writer and historian of medicine who has studied the Black Death. She said the research includes important issues, like how the same version of a gene can protect people from a bad infection, but and also put modern people at risk for other illnesses.
Monica H. Green 是一位研究黑死病的作家和醫(yī)學歷史學家。她說，這項研究包括重要問題，例如同一版本的基因如何保護人們免受嚴重感染，但同時也使現(xiàn)代人面臨其他疾病的風險。
 
There is also a question of how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect human evolution. Barreiro said does not think it will have a big effect because COVID is much less deadly than the Black Death.
還有一個問題是 COVID-19 大流行將如何影響人類進化。巴雷羅說，他認為這不會產(chǎn)生太大影響，因為新冠病毒的致命性遠低于黑死病。
 
In the future, however, he said more deadly pandemics will continue to shape us at the most basic level.
然而，他說，未來更多致命的流行病將繼續(xù)在最基本的層面上塑造我們。
 
"It's not going to stop," Barreiro said. "It's going to keep going for sure."
“它不會停止，”巴雷羅說。“它肯定會繼續(xù)下去。”