Novel antibiotic effectively kills bacteria 新型抗生素能有效殺滅細菌

近年來，人們對抗生素的使用比以往更加謹慎。這是因為有些細菌能對抗生素產生抗藥性，使得殺死這些細菌變得尤為困難。一款新型抗生素似乎能像目前被廣泛使用的其它抗生素一樣阻止細菌的肆虐。這種抗生素可以附著在細菌賴以生存的鐵元素上，從而誘使細菌將抗生素和鐵元素一同吸收到其細胞內，然後被藥物殺死。

文字稿

Bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics is making some infections incredibly difficult to treat, and new drugs are in scarce supply. Cefiderocol uses a new clever approach. It sticks to the mineral iron which bacteria need to absorb in order to survive. Once Cefiderocol is smuggled inside the bacterial cell, it kills it.

對抗生素產生抗藥性的細菌讓一些感染變得極難治療，而且新藥的供應也很稀缺。這款名叫 “Cefiderocol” 的藥物用瞭一種巧妙的新方法。它附著在鐵這種細菌需要通過吸收才能生存的礦物質上。一旦 “Cefiderocol” 潛入細菌的細胞內，它就會殺死細菌。

The antibiotic has been tested on nearly 450 people with either a kidney or urinary tract infection. Much larger trials are needed but the results reported in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal show the new antibiotic appears to be as effective as current treatments.

這種抗生素已在近四百五十名腎臟或尿路感染患者身上進行瞭測試。雖然仍需更大規模的試驗，但發佈在《柳葉刀傳染病》期刊上的研究結果顯示，這款新形抗生素似乎與目前常用的治療方法一樣有效。

1. 詞匯

bacteria 細菌（復數）
resistant 對…有抵抗能力的
antibiotics 抗生素
absorb 吸收
smuggled 潛入
bacterial cell 細菌細胞
kidney 腎臟
urinary tract 尿路
infection 感染
infectious （疾病）具傳染性的

2. 閱讀理解：請在讀完上文後，回答下列問題。

1. Why can some infections be difficult to kill?

2. How does Cefiderocol work?

3. True or False: There has been no trialling of this drug at all.

4. Is Cefiderocol as good at treating bacterial infections as current antibiotics?

3. 答案

1. Why can some infections be difficult to kill?
Some infections can be difficult to treat because bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics and new drugs are in scarce supply.

2. How does Cefiderocol work?
Cefiderocol sticks to iron, which gets absorbed into the bacterial cell. Once inside, it kills it.

3. True or False: There has been no trialling of this drug at all.
False. The antibiotic has been tested on nearly 450 people with either a kidney or urinary tract infection.

4. Is Cefiderocol as good at treating bacterial infections as current antibiotics?
The results reported in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal show the new antibiotic appears to be as effective as current treatments.