stopgap before we get a vaccine. The good news is that Remdesivir and steroids like

在我們得到疫苗之前的權宜之計。好消息是，雷德西韋和類固醇，如

Dexamethasone are showing great promise. The search to find effective treatments has required

地塞米松顯示出巨大的前景。尋找有效的治療方法需要

scientists to study lots of drugs - both new and existing - and some of them don't pan out.

科學家們要研究很多藥物--包括新的和現有的--其中有些藥物並沒有成功。

First, let's get this out of the way. There's still no definitive evidence that

首先，我們先把這個問題說清楚。仍然沒有明確的證據表明

the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for COVID-19. But

抗瘧藥羥氯喹是治療COVID-19的有效藥物。但是

other researchers are looking at convalescent plasma, which is antibody rich plasma taken

其他研究人員正在研究療養血漿，即取自富含抗體的血漿。

from those who have recovered. More research is needed to know how effective this option

從那些已經康復的人。需要進行更多的研究，才能知道這個方案的有效性。

truly is, but the FDA recently approved it for emergency use in hospitalized patients.

真正的是，但美國食品和藥物管理局最近準許它用於住院病人的緊急使用。

So, what makes remdesivir and dexamethasone so unique compared to other treatment options?

那麼，與其他治療方案相比，雷米迪西韋和地塞米松為何如此獨特？

We spoke with Professor Horby, who is leading a team running the world's largest clinical

我們採訪了霍比教授，他正帶領一個團隊運行世界上最大的臨床試驗。

trial of covid-19 drugs, to find out more. There are a number of classes of drugs that can

covid-19藥物的試驗，來了解更多。有許多類藥物可以做到以下幾點

be used in COVID-19. Remdesivir is in the antiviral class of drugs. These are drugs

被用於COVID-19中。Remdesivir屬於抗病毒類藥物。這些藥物

that specifically target the SARS coronavirus itself. So they either bind to it and stop

專門針對SARS冠狀病毒本身。所以他們要麼與它結合，阻止

it infecting cells, or they interfere with the replication cycle of the virus so that

感染細胞，或者干擾病毒的複製週期，從而使

it can't replicate itself, and so it starts to control the infection. Antivirals have

它無法自我複製，於是開始控制感染。抗病毒劑有

been around since the 1960's. The excitement surrounding Remdesivir is linked to a clinical

自上世紀60年代就已出現。圍繞著雷德西韋的興奮與臨床上的

trial that wrapped up earlier this year. The results from a US trial showed that Remdesivir

的試驗，於今年年初結束。美國的一項試驗結果顯示，Remdesivir?

reduced the time that patients spent in a hospital. It's the first drug that's an antiviral

減少了病人在醫院的時間。這是第一個抗病毒的藥物。

drug that's shown a positive effect. Because of this drug's potential, the FDA recently

的藥物，顯示出積極的效果。由於這種藥物的潛力，美國食品和藥物管理局最近。

approved emergency use of remdesivir in adults and children in the hospital. But at this

準許了雷米地韋在成人和兒童醫院的緊急使用。但目前

time, it's still unclear whether the drug also significantly improves the chance of

的時間，目前還不清楚該藥物是否也能顯著提高患

survival. Here's where the steroid dexamethasone enters the picture. Dexamethasone is one of

生存。這裡是類固醇地塞米松進入的地方。地塞米松是一種

the drugs that Professor Horby and his team are looking at during the UK's RECOVERY

霍比教授和他的團隊在英國的RECOVERY項目中正在研究的藥物。

trial. Dexamethasone is an anti-inflammatory drug, so it's part of a class of drugs that

試驗。地塞米松是一種抗炎藥，所以它是一類藥物的一部分，它的作用是

dampen down the immune system that your body produces to help control the virus and control

抑制你的身體產生的免疫系統，以幫助控制病毒和控制。

the disease. After the several months long trial, Professor Horby and his team showed

的疾病。經過長達幾個月的試驗，霍比教授和他的團隊顯示了

that the drug worked best on patients with severe symptoms. For example, it cut the

該藥對症狀嚴重的患者效果最好。例如，它削減了

risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators and by a fifth for those on oxygen. When the

使用呼吸機的患者死亡風險降低三分之一，使用氧氣的患者死亡風險降低五分之一。當

results were first published, this was the only steroid that had been found to save lives.

結果首次公佈，這是唯一的類固醇，已發現拯救生命。

But now there's evidence that other steroids, like hydrocortisone and methylprednisolone,

但現在有證據表明，其他類固醇，如氫化可的松和甲基強的松龍。

are also effective at reducing the risk of death. While all of this information is terrific

也是有效降低死亡風險的方法。雖然所有這些資訊都是非常好的

news, neither remdesivir nor steroids like dexamethasone are magic cure alls. Instead,

新聞，既不是 remdesivir 也不是類固醇像 dexamethasone 是神奇的萬能藥。相反，

remdesivir stops the virus's replication mechanisms by mimicking a necessary component

remdesivir通過模仿必要的成分來阻止病毒的複製機制。

of viral RNA. Essentially, the drug tricks an enzyme called RNA polymerase to incorporate

的病毒RNA。本質上，這種藥物欺騙了一種叫做RNA聚合酶的酶，使其結合了

it into a growing RNA strand, which blocks the rest of the RNA from being replicated.

變成一條不斷增長的RNA鏈，從而阻止其餘RNA的複製。

That creates a defective virus that can't replicate in other cells. You might be thinking

這就造成了一種不能在其他細胞中複製的缺陷病毒。你可能在想

at this point, “Well great! If I get sick I can just use some of that, right?” Well,

這時，"嗯，太好了！如果我生病了，我可以用一些，對吧？如果我生病了，我可以直接用一些，對吧？"好吧 Well,

not so fast. An antiviral drug like remdesivir must be able to kill a virus without killing

沒有那麼快。像雷米地西韋這樣的抗病毒藥物，必須能夠在不殺死病毒的情況下殺死

the human cell it occupies. And viruses are highly adaptive, able to mutate and develop

它所佔據的人類細胞。而病毒具有很強的適應性，能夠變異和發展。

resistance to drugs that are trying to stop them. Which is why remdesivir is undergoing

對試圖阻止它們的藥物產生耐藥性。這就是為什麼雷米替西韋正在接受

additional human trials. Plus, blocking the virus from replicating itself is only one

額外的人體試驗。另外，阻斷病毒的自我複製只是其中之一。

hurdle. Sometimes your body in a sense overreacts, and you get too much inflammation, and it

障礙。有時候，你的身體在某種意義上反應過度， 你得到太多的發炎，和它

starts to damage you. So you start to see damage to the lungs and other organs. Dexamethasone

開始損害你。所以你開始看到肺部和其他器官的損傷。地塞米松

is a corticosteroid, similar to the hormone cortisol that's produced by your adrenal

是一種皮質類固醇，類似於腎上腺產生的激素皮質醇。

glands. It has anti-inflammatory effects which help to suppress your body's overreaction. But

腺體。它具有抗炎作用，有助於抑制身體的過度反應。但是

that suppression walks a fine line. If taken too soon, these drugs may blunt the body's

抑制走在一條微妙的線。如果過早服用，這些藥物可能會鈍化身體。

natural defense system and reduce its ability to fight off the virus, thereby potentially

自然防禦系統，並降低其抵抗病毒的能力，從而有可能。

making the viral infection worse. Which begs the question: When should a patient get started

使病毒感染惡化。這就引出了一個問題。什麼時候病人應該開始

on this therapy? It's about a week into the illness that there's a divergence; people

在這個療法上？病程一週左右，就會出現分化；人們的

either get better or they start to deteriorate and they start to get breathing difficulties

要麼好轉，要麼開始惡化，開始呼吸困難

and end up in hospital. And if oxygen is needed, then that's typically when a steroid

並最終在醫院。如果氧氣是需要的，那麼這通常是當一個類固醇。

like dexamethasone would be given to patients. In the UK, a treatment course with dexamethasone

像地塞米松這樣的藥物會給患者服用。在英國，一個療程的地塞米松

is less than $10, it's just incredible and it's available in every country in the world. Remdesivir, on the other

不到10美元，簡直不可思議，而且世界上每個國家都有。Remdesivir，在其他

hand, isn't as affordable. The price for a five day course can cost thousands of dollars,

手，並不是那麼實惠。五天的課程價格可能要上千元。

depending on where you live and countries are already jostling each other to be first

看你住在哪裡，而各國已經在爭先恐後了。

in line. While mounting evidence continues to show that Remdesivir and Dexamethasone

行。雖然越來越多的證據繼續表明，雷米西韋和地塞米松

are beneficial covid-19 treatments, there is always the possibility that other drug

是有益的covid-19治療方法，但總是有可能出現其他藥物。

treatments could work better. Other options,  like convalescent plasma and monoclonal antibodies,

治療可以更好地發揮作用。其他選擇，如療養血漿和單克隆抗體。

which are basically molecules engineered to mimic the immune system's attack on cancer

基本上是模仿免疫系統對癌症的攻擊而設計的分子。

cells, are still being explored. As all of these treatments undergo further scrutiny,

細胞，仍在探索中。隨著所有這些治療方法接受進一步的審查。

Professor Horby reiterated an important message for those who want to help speed up the process

霍比教授重申了一個重要資訊，希望幫助加快進程的人。

for finding effective treatments. Being part of clinical trials is something that anybody

為找到有效的治療方法。作為臨床試驗的一部分，任何人

who's got COVID can do to make a really important contribution to the current pandemic, but

誰的COVID可以做一個真正的重要貢獻 目前的流行病，但。

also to all future patients. If you want to know more about where we're at with a COVID-19

也是對所有未來的患者。如果你想了解更多關於我們在COVID-19上的情況。

vaccine, check out our video here. And if there's another aspect of COVID-19 that

疫苗，查看我們的視頻。如果有COVID-19的另一個方面，即

you'd like to see us cover, let us know in the comments below. Make sure to subscribe

你想看到我們的報道，請在下面的評論中告訴我們。請務必訂閱

to Seeker for all your viral news. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.

為你的病毒性新聞，向探尋者致敬。謝謝大家的觀看，我們下期再見。