人类与病原菌的军备竞赛：NDM-1耐药基因与超级细菌

Arms racing between human beings and pathogens: NDM-1 and superbugs

摘要:

在人类历史上，每一次诸如鼠疫和肺结核病等瘟疫的大流行，都曾给人类的生存带来巨大的威胁。抗生素的应用使人类掌握了抵抗细菌感染的锐利“武器”，但同时病原菌也通过突变和水平基因转移等方式产生了诸多耐药基因，从而获得了应对抗生素杀伤的坚固“盾牌”；于是人类又不断地开发新式抗生素“武器”来破解病原菌的耐药“盾牌”——一场“军备竞赛”愈演愈烈。近来研究发现，携带编码NDM-1基因的耐药质粒不仅可以在细菌间转移，而且能使所在宿主菌成为可以耐受几乎全部抗生素的超级细菌。但是，凭借着日益进步的科技和医学，以及科学的用药策略，我们一定可以再次战胜超级细菌。

Abstract:

Throughout human history, pandemic bacterial diseases such as the plague and tuberculosis have posed an enormous threat to human beings. The discovery of antibiotics has provided us with powerful arsenal for the defense against bacterial infections. However, bacteria are acquiring more and more resistance genes to shield off antibiotics through mutation and horizontal gene transfer. Therefore, novel antibiotics must be produced and the arms race between bacterial pathogens and antibiotics is becoming increasingly intense. Recently, researchers have found that plasmids carrying a new metallo-β-lactamase gene, blaNDM-1, and many other antibiotics resistance genes can easily spread through bacterial populations and confer recipient stains resistance to nearly all of the current antibiotics. It is a threat to the human health and a great challenge for our medical science, which we are facing. We need to find new ways to fight and win this arms racing.