对抗血吸虫病有新招(2)【沪江慢速VOA080402】

New Drug Shows Promise Against Worm Disease (2/2)

Oxygen use produces oxygen-free radicals that can destroy an organism. The worm has a protective enzyme. But Professor Williams says the experimental drug disables this enzyme, causing the worm to self-destruct.

Since the nineteen eighties, doctors in more than seventy tropical nations have used one main drug to treat schistosomiasis. Public health experts worry that the worms will become resistant to this drug, praziquantel.

Each year, two hundred eighty thousand people die of schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia or snail fever. The microscopic worms infect snails, which in turn lay infected eggs. Humans become infected when they enter fresh water where the snails live.

The worms dig through skin to enter the body. They move into blood vessels that supply the intestinal and urinary systems. Then, if worm eggs in human waste enter fresh water, more snails and people become infected.

More studies are needed on the experimental new drug. The scientists say the results in mice were better than all the targets set by the World Health Organization for new schistosomiasis compounds. They hope the drug will be ready for testing in humans in four to five years.

参考译文：

氧消耗可以产生氧自由基，其可以引起机体破坏。蠕虫有一种保护酶。但是威廉姆斯教授说，这种实验性药物能使这种酶无法发挥作用，引起蠕虫的自我毁灭。

从20世纪80年代起，70多个热带国家的医生们都使用一种主要药物来治疗血吸虫病。公共卫生专家担心，蠕虫将会对这种叫做吡喹酮的药物产生一种抗体。

每年有28万人死于血吸虫病，此病也叫做裂体血吸虫或蜗牛热。显微镜下的蠕虫传染蜗牛，继而产下虫卵。当人们接触了蜗牛生活的淡水时，便被感染。

蠕虫钻过皮肤进入身体内。他们进入供应肠道和泌尿系统的血管。然后，如果蠕虫卵随人类的粪便进入淡水中，更多的蜗牛和人类会受到感染。

这种实验性新药物还需要更多的研究。科学家们说，对小鼠所做的研究结果优于世界卫生组织对治疗血吸虫病的新型复合药物所设定的全部目标。他们希望这种药物能在4到5年内在人类身上进行测试。

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