科学美国人60秒 SSS Ebola Virus Grew More Infectious in the Latest Epidemic
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：2016年Scientific American(十一)月
Ebola outbreaks before the most recent one have been fairly contained: geographically 1 limited, and just a couple hundred cases. The latest outbreak, though, which started in late 2013 and lasted more than two years, was entirely 2 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 3.”
Luban and his colleagues studied publicly available data on the evolutionary 4 “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.”
This mutant strain was armed with an alteration 5 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]
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 6 strains like this one to appear. Still, he says, studying these strains helps us understand how the virus infects—and replicates 7. “That may help us treat infections in the future, to develop therapies, or to develop vaccines 8 to block an infection.” In other words: know thy enemy.
—Christopher Intagliata
- Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
- All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分
- The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
- His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
- That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
- The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。
- Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
- These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。
- The shirt needs alteration.这件衬衣需要改一改。
- He easily perceived there was an alteration in my countenance.他立刻看出我的脸色和往常有些不同。
- She is very virulent about her former employer.她对她过去的老板恨之入骨。
- I stood up for her despite the virulent criticism.尽管她遭到恶毒的批评，我还是维护她。
- The bluetongue virus replicates in the insect. 蓝舌病病毒在这种昆虫体内繁殖。
- The chameleon's skin replicates the pattern of its surroundings. 变色龙的皮肤可随环境的模式而改变颜色。