黑暗之魂2楔形石圆盘:5种古代疾病今犹在

5种古代疾病今犹在

The Huffington Post   Amanda Chan   

《赫芬顿邮报》 阿曼达.陈(Amanda Chan)

First Posted: 10/18/11 08:46 AM ET Updated: 10/18/11 12:13 PM ET 

首次发表于： 11年10月18日 上午8:46分 ET    更新于：11年10月18日 下午12:13分 ET

The bubonic plague. Scarlet fever. Polio. Diseases of the past, and no longer on this Earth, right?

黑死病、猩红热和小儿麻痹症，以往的这些疾病，现在已经从地球上绝迹了吗？

Wrong. 

没有绝迹。

Many old-time diseases are still present today, but fortunately many of them aren't as prevalent or dangerous as their ancestral versions. But why are these diseases still around?

过去的许多疾病在当下仍然存在，不过幸运的是，它们中有许多已经没有过去那么盛行，也没有过去那样危险了。但是，为什么这些疾病还会出现呢？

For infectious diseases, a big part of it has to do with the organism in which the diseases are carried -- it's a lot easier to eradicate a disease if it's only spread from human to human, than if it's spread from animals to humans, said infectious disease expert Dr. Geoffrey A. Weinberg, a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Rochester Medical Center. 

传染性疾病很大程度上和携带这种疾病的生物体有关--如果一种疾病只在人与人之间传播，而不是从动物传播到人类，消灭它就要容易得多，传染病专家吉奥弗雷.A.维恩伯格（Geoffrey A. Weinbery）博士指出。他是罗切斯特大学医学中心儿科传染病系的儿科教授。

So far, there have only been two infectious diseases that have been completely eradicated from the planet: smallpox, and the animal disease rinderpest, he said. 

截至到目前，从地球上完全根除的传染病只有两种：天花和一种动物疫病牛瘟，他说。

"Those were easier to eradicate from the world because they were single strains of organisms -- both were viruses -- and they only infected one type of creature," Weinberg told HuffPost. "Smallpox only infected humans -- it was easy to recognize, and there was only one strain of it -- so a vaccine was easily producible. All those things combine to make it something that if people get their minds together and can recognize a disease, they can eliminate it." 

“由于这两种是单菌株有机体--二者都是病毒，并且只在一类生物中传染，所以消灭它们要容易得多，”维恩伯格(Weinberg)向《赫芬顿邮报》透露。“天花只会传染给人类，这样就容易辨认，再加上它只有一个菌株，所以很容易研制出疫苗。所有这些方面使它变成这样一种东西，如果人们汇集智慧后能辨认出这种疾病，就能消灭它。”

With illnesses like the flu, on the other hand, the virus that causes it mutates a lot and can live in a number of different organisms, including humans, pigs and birds, he said. 

另一方面，像流感这类疾病，病毒使得这种疾病产生许多变异，它也能在许多不同的生物体内生存，包括人类、猪和鸟类等，他说。

Take bubonic plague, for example. The disease is most commonly transmitted to humans through flea bites, and the fleas live on rodents. It's hard to completely extinguish bubonic plague in rodents and fleas, since there are so many of them around the world, Weinberg said. The same goes for spore diseases like anthrax, where it's in the soil -- "you can't get rid of that unless you concrete the entire world, because it's in the soil." 

以黑死病为例，最常见的方式是通过跳蚤叮咬传染给人类，而跳蚤在啮齿类动物身上生存。因为世界上啮齿类动物和跳蚤的数量庞大，所以要完全消灭它们身上的黑死病很困难，维恩伯格(Weinberg)说。通过孢子传播的疾病情况也相同，例如炭疽病就存在于土壤中--“由于它存在于土壤中，除非把整个世界浇注上混凝土，不然无法根除炭疽病。”

"Basically, the factors that lead to why diseases stick around, or come back, is because sometimes the germs change a little," Weinberg said. "Sometimes they're germs you can't get rid of, thats why we have to keep it suppressed by protecting people with a vaccine. Other germs, they're common and we don't know how to get rid of them. And then some germs, like influenza, are changing their coats. You're always chasing after them."

“基本上，这些疾病之所以会一直存在或卷土重来，在于细菌有时候会产生一些变化。”维恩伯格（Weinberg）说。“有时候，对于无法根除的细菌，所以我们必须靠给人们注射疫苗来预防。对于其他常见的细菌，我们不知道如何消除。还有一些例如流感在内的细菌，它们不断改变自己的细胞壁。我们总是在追赶它们变化的脚步。”

Take a look at five old-time diseases that still persist today. 

Bubonic Plague

Scarlet Fever

Whooping Cough

Polio

Gout

浏览者5种古老的疾病，它们当下依然存在。

黑死病

猩红热

百日咳

小儿麻痹症

痛风

Gout has been known throughout history as the "disease of kings" and the "rich man's disease," as it was most commonly seem among the gluttonous rich in the 1700 and 1800s, according to the British Library. Gout is considered an ancient form of inflammatory arthritis, and is caused by metabolic disorder that has not been properly controlled. It occurs when uric acid crystals build up in tissues and fluids, thereby leading to a red, swollen joint that is very painful, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is most common in overweight men and women who have gone through menopause.

据英国图书馆显示，由于18世纪至19世纪期间，痛风通常在暴食的富裕人群中出现，所以它在历史上被誉为“国王的疾病”和“富人的疾病”。痛风是一种古老的关节炎，代谢紊乱没有合理控制时，该病就会发作。当尿酸结晶在体内组织和体液中堆积，继而导致关节红肿疼痛，就会引发此病，据疾病控制预防中心显示。这种情况在体重超重的男性和更年期后的女性中最为普遍。

Gout rates have been on the rise since the 1960s, with cases doubling between 1960 and 1990 and then continuing to rise through 2008, according to WebMD. More than 8 million Americans currently have gout. 

在20世纪60年代起，痛风发病率一直呈增长趋势，1960年至1990年间，病例数量翻了两番后持续增长到2008年，据“网络医生”(WebMD)显示。目前，有超过800万名美国人罹患痛风。

WebMD reported that the rise in gout cases may be due to people living longer, as the condition is seen in women only after they have passed menopause. In addition, "you can go years with hyperuricemia and no symptoms. But at some point, enough uric acid accumulates to have a flare-up of gout, so if you're living longer you are more likely to reach that threshold," gout expert Dr. John S. Sundy told WebMD. 

“网络医生”(WebMD)报道指出，由于女性只在更年期后罹患此病，所以人们寿命的延长可能导致痛风病例的增加。此外，“高尿酸血在数年内都不会出现任何症状。但是，在某一刻，尿酸累积到足够多时，就会引发痛风。所以如果人的寿命越长，到那个零界点的可能性就越大，”痛风病专家约翰.S.萨恩蒂(John S.Sundy)医生告诉“网络医生”(WebMD).

In addition, Gaynes speculated that it may not even be that gout rates are actually rising -- rather, detection and diagnosis may have improved throughout the years. 

另外，盖恩斯观察得出结论，痛风发病率可能实际上并未提高，而是这些年来检查和诊断的能力提高了。