福奇：新冠病毒可能已經發生變異 變得更具傳染性

美國頂級傳染病專家福奇日前指出，已經發現新冠病毒產生變異的跡象，而且這種變異可能導致該病毒更容易傳播，但目前尚不清楚感染這種新變異病原體的人病情是否會更嚴重。

The coronavirus has mutated in a way that might help the pathogen spread more easily, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.

白宮衛生顧問安東尼·福奇博士本週四（7月2日）表示，新冠病毒已經發生變異，可能會讓病原體變得更容易傳播。

Research is underway to confirm the possible mutation and its implications, Fauci said, adding that “there’s a little dispute about it.” Viruses naturally mutate and scientists have previously said they have observed minor mutations in the coronavirus that have not impacted its ability to spread or cause disease in any significant way.

福奇稱，目前正在進行研究以證實這一可能發生的變異及其潛在影響。他補充道：“關於病毒變異存在一點爭議。”病毒會自然地發生變異，科學家先前指出，他們已經觀察到新冠病毒發生了一點微小的變異，但沒有顯著地影響到病毒傳播或致病的能力。

The possible mutation that Fauci cited was reported on by investigators at Los Alamos National Laboratory in an article published by the journal Cell earlier Thursday. Virologists at Scripps Research in Florida also wrote about the mutation last month, saying it “enhances viral transmission.” It’s unclear when the mutation might have occurred.

洛斯阿拉莫斯國家實驗室的研究人員週四早些時候發表在期刊《細胞》上的一篇文章報告了福奇所說的可能發生的變異。上個月，佛羅里達州的斯克裏普斯研究所的病毒學家也寫了關於病毒變異的報告，指出變異“加速了病毒傳播”。目前尚不清楚病毒發生變異的時間。

“The data is showing there’s a single mutation that makes the virus be able to replicate better and maybe have high viral loads,” Fauci said in an interview with The Journal of the American Medical Association’s Dr. Howard Bauchner. “We don’t have a connection to whether an individual does worse with this or not; it just seems that the virus replicates better and may be more transmissible.”

福奇在和《美國醫學會雜誌》主編霍華德·鮑士納博士一起參加訪談時說：“數據顯示，有一種單一變異能讓病毒更好地複製，也許還會提高病毒載量。我們不能確定個體在感染這種變異病毒後病情是否會更嚴重；目前看來這種變異病毒就是可以更好地複製，也許傳播得還更快。”

He added that researchers are “still at the stage of trying to confirm that.”

他補充道，研究人員“仍然在試圖去證實的階段”。

The World Health Organization and its team of global researchers have been keeping an eye on more than 60,000 different genetic sequences of the coronavirus collected from samples taken all over the world.

世界衛生組織及其全球研究團隊一直在密切關注從世界各地採集的新冠病毒的6萬多種不同基因序列的樣本。

All viruses evolve, or mutate, throughout their lifespan. RNA viruses like the coronavirus mutate more quickly than some other viruses, top WHO officials told reporters last month, because unlike human DNA, RNA viruses do not have “natural error checking,” meaning that the code of the virus cannot correct itself.

所有的病毒在其生命週期都會發生進化或變異。頂級世衛組織官員上個月告訴記者說，像新冠病毒這種核糖核酸病毒比其他一些病毒變異得更快，因爲和人類的脫氧核糖核酸不同，核糖核酸病毒沒有“天然的錯誤檢查機制”，這意味着病毒的基因編碼不能自我更正。

Not every mutation will lead to any meaningful change in the behavior of the virus or its impact on humans, the WHO previously said. Nonetheless, the United Nations health agency has formed a comprehensive data base of genetic sequences to investigate any potential mutations.

世界衛生組織先前曾說過，不是每種變異都會導致病毒的行爲或病毒對人類的影響產生重大變化。不過，聯合國衛生機構已經組建了一個基因序列綜合數據庫來調查任何潛在的變異。

Earlier Thursday, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, told reporters at a news briefing that “natural mutations” of the virus are to be expected. She explained that there are certain “domains” of the virus that are “more critical,” such as the spike protein, from which the coronavirus gets its name.

週四早些時候，世界衛生組織首席科學家索姆亞·斯瓦米納坦博士在一次新聞發佈會上告訴記者說，病毒發生“自然變異”是可能的。她解釋道，病毒的某些“領域”“更爲關鍵”，比如纖突蛋白，新冠病毒的名字就來源於它。

“If major mutations occurred in those domains, it might actually affect the development of vaccines,” she said.

她說：“如果纖突蛋白等主要領域發生重大變異，可能會影響到疫苗的研發。”