接觸細(xì)菌很重要

懷夏 選譯

Professor John Standford， a bacteriologist，explains why exposure to germs is so important.

The idea that germs are bad for us came outof the early part of the last century when therewas a lot of concentration on teaching peopleabout bacteria and the germ theory of infection.

The scientists who became most certainthat all germs are bad for us， according to ProfStandford， were the pharmacologists who weredeveloping drugs specifically to kill germs andthis was built on by pople selling disinfectantsand other household products. But Prof Standfordsays that in fact the really important ones that youneed to kill are a very small number amongst thegreat majority.

When you start as a bacteriologist you learnabout the organisms that cause disease. As youprogress further in your knowledge of this， yourealise that there are many close relatives of theorganisms that cause disease which are in yoursurroundings and it’s by meeting these that youdevelop protection.

“Just as when you are a small child and youlearn languages and your brain is important in theway in which you learn languages， then silentlyand behind the scenes， the immune system isalso learning. But it learns from the things thatyou inadvertently need. The things you eat， thethings you swallow， the things that get into cuts，the things that get into your eye， almost anyplace where you have direct contact with theenvironment， the immune system learns from it.”

Prof Standford believes that it is not justthat we separate ourselves from the environmentby washing off the environment or by beingcareful not to touch dirty things， it is basicallythe way in which we no longer contact thegeneral outside environment at all. Childrentoday watch television a lot of the time and playwith computers a lot of the time. There are manypressures which prevent children from being ableto go out and play outside as they used to be ableto do.

Prof Standford said，“My current dream isthat we can develop a vaccine which will replacethe effects of to much hygiene and keepingourselves too far away from the environment.Yes， there are germs that are bad for you but the great majority of them are not bad for you at all，others are neutral and others are definitely there and benefit you. This may seem like heretical to many people but if you word in this field it is not heretical at all， it's what we've all come to learn to believe.”

細(xì)菌學(xué)家約翰·斯坦德弗德教授解釋了為什么暴露于細(xì)菌之中是如此重要。

細(xì)菌有害于人類的想法來自于上個(gè)世紀(jì)的早期，當(dāng)時(shí)，人們很重視有關(guān)細(xì)菌和細(xì)菌感染理論的教育。

根據(jù)斯坦德弗德教授的說法，最肯定所有細(xì)菌都有害于人類這一理論的科學(xué)家是那些當(dāng)時(shí)正在開發(fā)滅菌藥物的藥理學(xué)家們，然后這一觀念又被推銷消毒劑和其他家用產(chǎn)品的人加以發(fā)展。但是斯坦德弗德教授認(rèn)為，實(shí)際上必須殺死的真正有害細(xì)菌只是大多數(shù)細(xì)菌中的一個(gè)很小的部分。

當(dāng)你開始成為一個(gè)細(xì)菌學(xué)家時(shí)，你了解了那些引起疾病的微生物。當(dāng)你在這方面的知識(shí)繼續(xù)增長時(shí)，你會(huì)認(rèn)識(shí)到在你的環(huán)境中有許多與致病生物體相近的微生物，而正是與它們的接觸使你的身體產(chǎn)生自我保護(hù)機(jī)能。

“這就好比當(dāng)你是一個(gè)小孩子，在學(xué)習(xí)語言時(shí)，你的大腦在語言這一方面顯得非常重要。其實(shí)，免疫系統(tǒng)也悄悄地在幕后進(jìn)行學(xué)習(xí)，但是學(xué)習(xí)的內(nèi)容是從你不經(jīng)意的事情中獲得的，從你吃的東西中，從你吞咽的東西中，從進(jìn)入你傷口的東西中，從進(jìn)入你眼睛的東西中，幾乎是每一個(gè)你與外界直接接觸的地方，免疫系統(tǒng)都從中學(xué)到了東西?！?/p>

斯坦德弗德教授認(rèn)為，我們與外界的隔離不只是表現(xiàn)在給環(huán)境消毒和不碰臟東西，主要的是我們根本不再接觸廣大的外部世界。今天的孩子們很多時(shí)間都花在看電視和玩電腦上，有很多的壓力禁止孩子們走到戶外，像從前那樣玩耍。

斯坦德弗德教授說：“我現(xiàn)在的夢想是能夠開發(fā)出一種疫苗，取代太講衛(wèi)生、太遠(yuǎn)離環(huán)境的做法。的確，自然界存在著對你有害的細(xì)菌，但是大多數(shù)根本無害。有些細(xì)菌是中性的，還有些有益于你。這種觀點(diǎn)對于許多人來講像是異端邪說，但是如果你在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域工作的話，你就會(huì)明白這絕不是異端邪說，而是我們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)并相信的事實(shí)。”