保護孩子在潔淨環境下成長卻導致白血病?

Around one in 2,000 children will develop leukaemia. Up to now, the trigger has remained a mystery.

每2000名兒童中，就有一人或患上白血病。迄今爲止，白血病的誘因仍是未解之謎。

But lead researcher Professor Mel Greaves, from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and one of the UK's most influential cancer experts, has come up with a theory - keeping ?children too clean might be one of the factors that could influence which child will and which child won't develop this serious illness.

但倫敦癌症研究所的首席研究員、英國最具影響力的一位癌症專家梅爾·格里弗斯（Mel Greaves）教授提出了一個理論--讓孩子在太過潔淨的環境下成長可能是影響孩子患白血病的因素之一。

His research, he says, strongly suggests that acute ?lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common childhood leukaemia, has a clear biological cause and is triggered by a variety of infections in predisposed children whose immune systems have not been properly primed.

他說，他的研究強烈表明：急性淋巴細胞白血病（ALL）是最爲常見的兒童白血病，該疾病很明顯是由生物學原因引起的，免疫系統發育不成熟的兒童易受到一系列感染，從而誘發該疾病。

In other words, not exposing babies to household germs may trigger a form of leukaemia. Prof Greaves shows that youngsters who are genetically at risk of developing ALL are significantly more likely to get the disease if their immune system isn't strengthened by being exposed to germs.

換言之，沒有接觸過細菌的嬰兒可能會患上白血病。格里弗斯教授表示，如果遺傳上有患急性淋巴細胞白血病風險的年輕人沒有通過暴露於細菌環境而增強免疫系統，那他們就更有可能患該疾病。

Previous research backs up this theory by suggesting toddlers who attend nurseries are 30% less likely to develop ALL, due to them picking up infections from other children that boost their immune systems.

先前的研究表明去託兒所的蹣跚學步的兒童患急性淋巴細胞白血病的風險降低了30%，因爲他們會通過與其他兒童接觸而感染細菌，從而增強免疫系統，這一研究也支持了格里弗斯教授的理論。

Prof Greaves believes the most important implication of his work is that most cases of childhood leukaemia are likely to be preventable. He says: "This body of research is a culmination of decades of work, and at last provides a credible explanation for how the major type of childhood leukaemia develops." It's important to understand that one in 20 children is born with a genetic mutation that could lead to ALL.

格里弗斯教授認爲，其工作的最重要意義就是，兒童白血病很有可能是可以預防的。他說道："該項研究是幾十年工作的結晶，最終合情合理的解釋了兒童是如何患上這種主流白血病的。"記住這一點很重要：二十分之一的兒童出生時就攜帶導致急性淋巴細胞白血病的基因突變。

Less than 1% become ill, however, because most children are exposed to household germs. If so, childhood leukaemia could become a ?preventable disease with something as simple as letting children come into contact with a bit of household "dirt".

然而，只有1%的人會患上該疾病，因爲大多數兒童會接觸屋內的細菌。若如此，兒童白血病則可以預防，只要讓孩子稍微接觸一些屋內"塵埃"就行了。

Professor Paul Workman, chief ?executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, says of Prof Greaves' work: "He has cut through the myths about childhood leukaemia and, for the first time, set out a single unified theory for how most cases are caused.

癌症研究所的首席執行官保羅·沃斯曼（Paul Workman）教授評論了格里弗斯教授的工作："他破解了有關兒童白血病的未解之謎，並第一次就大多數案例的起因提出了一個統一的理論。"