《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第39期:普通感冒(2)
A more practical-though not necessarily cheaper-solution would be to give everyone biohazard suits. That way, we could walk around and interact, even allowing some normal economic activity to continue:
But let's set aside the practicality and address Sarah's actual question: Would it work?
我們現在先不管全球性隔離是否可行，而是來看看薩拉提的問題的核心：這樣做可行嗎？To help figure out the answer, I talked to Professor Ian M. Mackay, a virology expert from the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre at the University of Queensland.
爲了找到答案，我找到了昆士蘭大學澳大利亞傳染性疾病研究中心病毒學專家伊安•M．麥凱博士。
Dr. Mackay said that this idea is actually somewhat reasonable, from a purely biological point of view. He said that rhinoviruses-and other RNA respiratory viruses-are completely eliminated from the body by the immune system; they do not linger after infection. Furthermore, we don't seem to pass any rhinoviruses back and forth with animals, which means there are no other species that can serve as reservoirs of our colds. If rhinoviruses don't have enough humans to move between, they die out.
麥凱博士表示，這個想法從生物學角度來看其實是可行的，鼻病毒和其他呼吸道RNA病毒將會被免疫系統徹底清除，在被感染後人們也不會跑到其他地方去。另外，看起來我們不會與動物之間相互傳播鼻病毒，這意味着感冒將不再有棲息之地。如果鼻病毒不能找到足夠多的人進行傳播，它最終就會消亡。We've actually seen this viral extinction in action in isolated populations. The remote islands of St. Kilda, far to the northwest of Scotland, for centuries hosted a population of about 100 people. The islands were visited by only a few boats a year, and suffered from an unusual syndrome called the cnatan-na-gall, or “stranger's cough.” For several centuries, the cough swept the island like clockwork every time a new boat arrived.
實際上，在偏遠地區我們觀察到了這種病毒消亡過程。在蘇格蘭遙遠的西北角有一個叫作聖基爾達的小島，幾百年來人口一直維持在100人上下。每年只會有幾艘船來到這個小島，但一種叫作“cnatan-na-gall”（陌生人的咳嗽）的異常症狀卻一直困擾着這個小島。幾個世紀以來，每艘船的到來都肯定會造成一次席捲全島的咳嗽大流行。The exact cause of the outbreaks is unknown, but rhinoviruses were probably responsible for many of them. Every time a boat visited, it would introduce new strains of virus. These strains would sweep the islands, infecting virtually everyone. After several weeks, all the residents would have fresh immunity to those strains, and with nowhere to go, the viruses would die out.
疾病爆發的準確原因不得而知，但鼻病毒很有可能是其中很多起咳嗽爆發的元兇。每一艘造訪小島的船隻都會帶來新的病毒菌株，這些菌株會蔓延到整個小島，幾乎所有人都會被感染。幾周後，所有的居民都發展出了抵禦這種菌株的免疫力，之後無處可去的病毒就會消亡。The same viral clearing would likely happen in any small and isolated population-for example, shipwreck survivors.
相同的病毒消亡很有可能會發生在人數較少而又相對隔離的羣體中，一個例子便是船舶事故遇難者。
