fact, the current pandemic has actually made  many other epidemics even harder to treat  

事實上，目前的大流行病實際上使許多其他流行病更難治療。

and control. But there's good news on the  horizon, because recent breakthroughs are  

和控制。但在地平線上有好消息，因為最近的突破性進展是

bringing us more immunity than we've ever  had before to one of the world's oldest  

為我們帶來了比以往任何時候都更多的免疫力，使我們能夠接觸到世界上最古老的生物多樣性之一。

and deadliest infectious diseases. That disease is malaria.   

和最致命的傳染病。這種疾病就是瘧疾。

Malaria affects over 200 MILLION people and kills about half a million people every year.  

瘧疾影響了2億多人，每年約有50萬人死於瘧疾。

It's actually one of the world's leading  causes of death for children under 5. 

它實際上是世界上5歲以下兒童死亡的主要原因之一。

And it's been around for literal millenia.  But we still don't have a handle on it...

而且它已經存在了幾千年了。 但我們仍然沒有掌握它......

Why is that?

這是為什麼呢？

Well, malaria is caused by a parasite—a  group of them, actually, called Plasmodium. 

嗯，瘧疾是由一種寄生蟲引起的，實際上是一組寄生蟲，稱為瘧原蟲。

These parasites are transmitted  by some species of mosquitoes.  

這些寄生蟲由某些種類的蚊子傳播。

When an infected mosquito bites a human. The  mosquito regurgitates some of the parasite  

當受感染的蚊子叮咬人類時。蚊子會反芻出一些寄生蟲

into the human's bloodstream...ta-da, infection. From there, the parasites move to your liver,  

進入人類的血液中......嗒嗒，感染。從那裡，寄生蟲移動到你的肝臟。

where they multiply and mature into the form  that can move on to infect your red blood cells.  

它們在那裡繁殖併成熟為可以繼續感染你的紅血球的形式。

This is the point at which you develop  symptoms—fever, chills, headache, vomiting,  

這是你出現症狀的時間點--發燒、寒戰、頭痛、嘔吐。

muscle pain. In severe cases, this can lead to  trouble breathing, organ failure, and even death. 

肌肉疼痛。在嚴重的情況下，這可能導致呼吸困難，器官衰竭，甚至死亡。

And the measures we currently have to combat this  disease aren't really that great. Antimalarial  

而我們目前對抗這種疾病的措施其實並不怎麼好。抗瘧藥物

drugs can be really rough on your body.  We actually give them not only to treat  

藥物可能對你的身體非常粗糙。 實際上，我們給它們的目的不僅是為了治療

the disease, but also to prevent it...And  one analysis found that these drugs may only be  

而一項分析發現，這些藥物可能只在以下方面起作用

up to 72% effective at preventing malaria. PLUS, the darn parasites keep developing  

對預防瘧疾的效果高達72%。另外，這些該死的寄生蟲還在繼續發展

resistance to many of these drugs.  We also have tools that target the mosquitos  

對許多這些藥物的抗性。 我們也有針對蚊子的工具

themselves instead of the parasite

自己而不是寄生蟲

like insect nets and bug spray.

如防蟲網和殺蟲劑。

And these play a huge role in malaria prevention, but the availability of  

而這些在預防瘧疾方面發揮著巨大的作用，但是，是否能獲得

all of these tools is easily disrupted by things  like civil unrest or...the COVID-19 pandemic. 

所有這些工具都很容易被內亂或......COVID-19大流行病等事情破壞。

So, a more long-acting, more effective solution would be  HUGE.  

是以，一個更長效、更有效的解決方案將是巨大的。

A solution like a vaccine. The thing is, 

一個像疫苗一樣的解決方案。事情是這樣的。

there is no approved vaccine for any parasitic  disease of any kind. See, when we make a vaccine,  

目前還沒有任何一種寄生蟲病的準許疫苗。看，當我們製造出一種疫苗時。

we're trying to get your body to protect itself by  introducing it to the parts of the pathogen that  

我們正試圖讓你的身體通過引入病原體的部分來保護自己。

would make you sick, what's called an antigen.  For COVID, that's the viral spike protein. 

會使你生病，這就是所謂的抗原。 對於COVID來說，那是病毒的尖峰蛋白。

But parasites are generally much more  complex pathogens than bacteria or viruses,  

但是寄生蟲通常是比細菌或病毒複雜得多的病原體。

so those antigens are more complicated.  But there are some options on the horizon.  

所以這些抗原更加複雜。 但在地平線上有一些選擇。

The most advanced candidate so far is called  Mosquirix. It has actually been approved by the  

迄今為止，最先進的候選藥物被稱為Mosquirix。它實際上已經得到了美國政府的準許。

European Medicines Agency and passed through phase  III trials,

歐洲藥品管理局並通過了III期試驗。

but it's not yet approved by the World Health Organization.

但它還沒有得到世界衛生組織的準許。

It contains one of the parasite's main surface  proteins as the antigen, 

它含有寄生蟲的主要表面蛋白之一作為抗原。

and that's produced in a lab by inserting

而這是在實驗室中通過插入

the DNA that codes for the antigen into a microbe,  like a yeast. The microbe produces that antigen,  

將編碼抗原的DNA輸入微生物，如酵母。該微生物產生該抗原。

we put it into the vaccine, and that  antigen activates your immune system  

我們把它放入疫苗中，而該抗原會激活你的免疫系統。

against the parasite.

對抗寄生蟲。

But this vaccine doesn't provide full  protection—it's around 30-40% effective  

但這種疫苗並不能提供完全的保護--大約有30-40%的效果。

in some trials

在一些審判中

against malaria infection over the course of  about 4 years, and that decreases over time. 

在大約4年的時間裡，防止瘧疾感染，而且隨著時間的推移，這種情況會逐漸減少。

Another vaccine that works in a really similar way, called R21, has come onto the scene  

另一種以非常類似的方式工作的疫苗，稱為R21，已經出現在舞臺上。

more recently and improved on the amount of  protection, with some studies showing up to 77%  

最近，在保護數量上有所提高，一些研究顯示高達77%。

effectiveness, but it's still  early in its trial stages. 

有效性，但它仍然處於早期試驗階段。

The NIH recently tested another kind  of vaccine, a live-attenuated type.  

美國國立衛生研究院最近測試了另一種疫苗，一種活體減毒型疫苗。

That means it contains the whole, live parasite,  but it's been weakened by something—in this case,  

這意味著它包含整個活的寄生蟲，但它被某些東西削弱了，在這種情況下。

by radiation—to make it so it can't actually  infect you.  

通過輻射，使它不能真正感染你。

This candidate can provide 

這位候選人可以提供

100% protection, but only against the exact same  strain of parasite that's included in the vaccine. 

100%保護，但只針對疫苗中包含的完全相同的寄生蟲菌株。

Because there are many species of Plasmodium, and  within species there are different strains, this  

因為瘧原蟲有很多種類，而在種類中又有不同的菌株，所以這

vaccine provides incomplete protection against  strains that are different from the parasite  

疫苗對不同於寄生蟲的菌株提供不完全的保護。

that's in the shot. And the newest member to join  this cast of characters is one we're all used to  

這是在鏡頭裡。而加入這個角色陣容的最新成員是我們都已經習慣了的人

hearing about these days...because it's an mRNA vaccine.

這些天聽到的......因為它是一種mRNA疫苗。

Using the same technology that's behind the  

使用了與 "中國製造 "相同的技術，這就是 "中國製造 "的背後。

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines, this  malaria vaccine candidate contains mRNA that  

輝瑞-生物技術公司和Moderna COVID公司的疫苗，這種瘧疾候選疫苗含有mRNA，可用於

codes for the antigen—one of the parasite's surface proteins. 

編碼為抗原--寄生蟲的表面蛋白。

Instead of having the actual protein itself in the  

而不是將實際的蛋白質本身放在

vaccine, like the Mosquirix and R21 candidates  do,  

疫苗，就像Mosquirix和R21候選者那樣。

or having the whole live parasite in it, like that NIH vaccine,

或有整個活的寄生蟲在裡面，如NIH的疫苗。

this vaccine contains just the mRNA, 

這種疫苗只包含mRNA。

and your cells are what's making the protein. BioNTech recently tested this vaccine  

而你的細胞就是製造這種蛋白質的人。BioNTech最近測試了這種疫苗

in mice, where it yielded 88% protection.  The company has its sights set on having the  

在小鼠身上，它產生了88%的保護。 該公司已將目光投向了擁有

world's first mRNA vaccine for malaria  available for use in humans by 2022. 

到2022年，世界上第一個用於治療瘧疾的mRNA疫苗可用於人類。

Now, all of these candidates still face many  hurdles, from having enough facilities to make  

現在，所有這些候選人仍然面臨著許多障礙，從擁有足夠的設施，使

each kind of vaccine, to the logistics of  getting them to the people who need them.  

每種疫苗，到把它們送到需要它們的人手中的物流。

And while none of them are licensed and  on the market yet, we could be just a few  

雖然它們都還沒有得到許可並在市場上銷售，但我們可能只是幾個

years away from the world's first ever approved  parasite vaccines—maybe letting us swat malaria  

距離世界上首次準許的寄生蟲疫苗還有幾年時間--也許可以讓我們消滅瘧疾。

away for good, and changing the world forever.  

永遠離開，並永遠改變世界。

If you want more positive infectious disease news, 

如果你想要更多積極的傳染病新聞。

check out this video over here, and for more  buzz on all things vaccine, make sure you  

請看這段視頻，關於疫苗的更多資訊，請確保你

subscribe to Seeker. If you have another  public health topic you want us to cover,  

訂閱Seeker。如果你有其他公共衛生話題希望我們報道。

leave us a comment down below and as always,  thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.

請在下面給我們留言，並一如既往地感謝您的觀看。下次見。