早在抗生素出现之前, 刺猬体内就出现了抗药菌(上)

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是凯伦·霍普金。

Hedgehogs are a lot of things.

刺猬拥有很多特点。

They’re small and spiky, covered in quills.

它们体型较小，全身长满了尖刺。

And some people even say they’re cute.

但是有些人却说它们很可爱。

Now, a new study says that they are also the origin of resistance to methicillin, an antibiotic derived from penicillin.

现在，一项新的研究表明，刺猬也是一种从青霉素中提取的抗生素，甲氧西林耐药性的源头。

That pointed observation appears in the journal Nature.

这一突出的观察结果发表在《自然》期刊上。

Antibiotic resistance is a huge clinical problem.

抗生素耐药性是一个巨大的临床问题。

And methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as M-R-S-A or MRSA, can be difficult to treat as many have developed resistance to a handful of our frontline therapeutics.

耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌，也被称为M-R-S-A或MRSA，很难治疗，因为许多人已经对我们的一线治疗药物产生了耐药性。

Historically it has been assumed that resistance in disease-causing bacteria, including Staph aureus, is a modern phenomenon driven by clinical use of antibiotics.

过去，包括金黄色葡萄球菌在内的致病细菌的耐药性一直被认为是由临床使用抗生素导致的现代现象。

Jesper Larsen is a senior scientist at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, which is the Danish equivalent of the CDC in the US.

杰斯珀·拉森是位于哥本哈根的丹麦国家血清研究所的资深科学家，该研究所相当于丹麦的美国疾病控制与预防中心。

Methicillin resistance was thought to be tied to prescription, in part because methicillin-resistant bugs were first isolated from British hospitals just a year after the drug became available for clinical use.

甲氧西林耐药性被认为与处方药有关，部分原因是在甲氧西林临床使用一年后，英国医院首次分离出了具有甲氧西林耐药性的细菌。

But a couple of years ago we found out by chance that mecC M-R-S-A is present in more than 60 percent of hedgehogs from Denmark and Sweden.

但几年前，我们偶然发现丹麦和瑞典60%以上的刺猬体内存在mecC M-R-S-A。

Ok, what’s mecC M-R-S-A?

好，什么是mecC M-R-S-A？

Methicillin and penicillin belong to the so-called “beta lactam” family of antibiotics.

甲氧西林和青霉素属于所说的“β-内酰胺”类抗生素。

They kill bacteria by inhibiting enzymes the bugs use to build their protective cell walls.

细菌通过酶来构建自己的保护性细胞壁，而β-内酰胺类抗生素则通过抑制这些酶来杀死细菌。

MecC and a related gene mecA, encode versions of the enzymes that the antibiotics don’t latch onto as well.

mecC以及相关基因mecA能编码抗生素也无法附着的酶。

Staph aureus bacteria that carry these genes are therefore resistant to most beta lactam antibiotics.

因此，携带这些基因的金黄色葡萄球菌对大多数β-内酰胺类抗生素都有耐药性。

But where did these resistance genes come from?

但是这些耐药性基因是从哪里来的呢？

They’ve been spotted not only in folks with Staph infections, but in livestock, like pigs and cattle, and in some wild animals.

它们不仅在感染了金黄色葡萄球菌的人群体内发现，而且在牛和猪等家畜体内也发现了。而且在一些野生动物体内也发现了这种细菌。

And in Sweden, Larsen found that mecC is really common in hedgehogs.

在瑞典，拉森发现mecC常见于刺猬体内。