埃博拉病毒近期變得更具傳染性

埃博拉病毒近期變得更具傳染性(科學60S)

Ebola Virus Grew More Infectious in the Latest Epidemic

埃博拉病毒近期變得更具傳染性

A strain that emerged during the latest epidemic is able to enter human cells more easily—which means it』s more infectious, too. Christopher Intagliata reports.

據克里斯托弗·因塔利亞塔（Christopher Intagliata）報道，在最近流行病期間出現的毒株能夠更容易地進入人類細胞——這意味著它也更具有傳染性。

撰文/播音：克里斯托弗·因塔利亞塔

翻譯：楊梟

審校：丁可含

Ebola outbreaks before the most recent one have been fairly contained: geographically limited, and just a couple hundred cases. The latest outbreak, though, which started in late 2013 and lasted more than two years, was entirely different. 「There were almost 30,000 cases.」 Jeremy Luban, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. 「You could argue this was the first actual epidemic.」在

最近的一次疫情爆發之前，埃博拉病毒一定程度上得到了控制：地域限制，且只有幾百例。然而，最近的這次疫情爆發完全不同，它從2013年年底開始，持續了兩年多。馬薩諸塞大學醫學院的病毒學家傑里米·盧班（Jeremy Luban）說：「這次疫情有近三萬個病例。你可以說這才是一次真正的疫情。」

Luban and his colleagues studied publicly available data on the evolutionary 「family tree」 of the Ebola virus during the latest outbreak—how the strains mutated and changed over time. 「And one in particular caught our attention. It arose early in the epidemic, and it』s the only form of the virus that persisted beyond that point.」

盧班和他的同事研究了在最近爆發期間埃博拉病毒進化「家譜」的公開可用數據——毒株如何隨時間突變和改變。「有一株特別引起了我們的注意。它在疫情早期產生，而且是唯一未變的毒株。」

This mutant strain was armed with an alteration in the protein it uses to enter cells. What Luban』s team found was that the modified protein actually made the strain more infectious to the cells of humans and other primates—but not to other mammals. The study is in the journal Cell. [William E. Diehl et al., Ebola Virus Glycoprotein with Increased Infectivity Dominated the 2013–2016 Epidemic]

這種突變株所攜帶的用於進入細胞的蛋白質發生了突變。盧班團隊發現這種改良後的蛋白事實上可以使該病毒更容易感染人類和靈長類動物細胞，但對於其它哺乳動物無效。這項研究發表在了期刊《細胞》上。

Luban says it』s unclear whether this increased infectivity helped drive the outbreak to epidemic proportions. Or whether the length and size of the epidemic simply allowed for more virulent strains like this one to appear. Still, he says, studying these strains helps us understand how the virus infects—and replicates. 「That may help us treat infections in the future, to develop therapies, or to develop vaccines to block an infection.」 In other words: know thy enemy.

盧班說，目前尚不清楚這種增加的傳染性是否有助於將疫情推動到流行病的規模。或者，正是這次流行病的持久與大規模才使得更多像這樣的毒株出現。儘管如此，他說，研究這些病毒株有助於我們了解病毒是如何感染和複製。「這可能有助於我們在將來治療傳染病，研製療法，或開發疫苗以防止傳染。」換句話說：了解你的敵人。

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