科学家们认为他们已经找到了一种方法来阻止普通感冒以及与之密切相关的病毒，这种病毒可能导致瘫痪。研究人员们并未直接攻击这些病毒，而是将目标转向了人体细胞内的一种必需的蛋白质，病毒需要这种蛋白质进行复制。

 

The common cold gets us all. Adults can expect a couple of bouts¹ of streaming noses every year. In the UK, minor² coughs and colds are the main reason we take days off work - around 34 million of them every year.

感冒伤风，人人在所难免。成年人每年有几次流鼻涕感冒的经历都是预料之中的事情。在英国，轻微的咳嗽和感冒是人们请病假的主要原因——每年因感冒为由的病假天数大约有 3400 万天。

 

Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses. However, there are around 160 different types and the viruses can quickly mutate. Developing a drug to stop such a diverse and rapidly changing array has proved impossible. So a team at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University, tried something different. They targeted the host, in this case us - humans.

绝大多数的感冒是由鼻病毒引起的。但这种病毒大约有160种不同的类型，而且能快速变异。事实证明，想研发出一种药物来消灭如此多样化且迅速变化的病毒是不可能的。所以，来自加利福尼亚大学旧金山分校和斯坦福大学的研究团队尝试了不同的方法。他们将目标对准了病毒的宿主，也就是我们人类。

 

Viruses are not truly alive - they need to hijack³ parts of a host organism in order to replicate⁴. The US team found a protein that cold viruses and more dangerous polio-like viruses were dependent upon. Disabling the protein in mice and human lung cells using gene⁵ editing led to complete protection.

病毒并不是真正的活的，它们需要通过劫持宿主机体中的一些部分来进行自我复制。这支美国研究团队发现了感冒病毒及更危险的脊髓灰质炎病毒赖以生存的一种蛋白质。他们利用基因编辑技术使小老鼠和人类肺细胞中的这种蛋白质失去其功能，从而起到了完全的防护作用。

 

The US team now want to develop a drug that could be sprayed up the nose to protect us from the common cold. The researchers say this could happen relatively⁶ quickly. Until then, a duvet day with a mug of something warm is about all you can do.

这支美国研究团队现在想开发出一种可以喷到鼻子上的药物来保护我们免收普通感冒的侵袭。研究人员们表示，这种药物可能很快就能研发出来。在此之前，要想治感冒，你只能请一天病假，坐在被窝里喝点热的、养养病了。

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