Use Artificial Intelligence to Address Antibiotic Resistance

利用人工智能解决抗生素耐药性

Scientists in the United Kingdom and China have announced plans to use artificial intelligence on chicken farms in order to combat the problem of antibiotic resistance in both farm animals and humans.

中国和英国的科学家正式宣布，计划将人工智能用于养鸡场以解决农场动物和人类的抗生素耐药性问题。

The new initiative will use machine learning to find ways to track and prevent disease on poultry farms, reducing the need for antibiotic treatment in chickens and therefore lowering the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria transferring to people.

新计划拟用机器学习找到追踪和预防家禽养殖场疾病的方法，从而降低鸡对抗生素治疗的需求，最终降低动物把抗生素耐药性传给人类的风险。

The research will be led by animal health experts from the University of Nottingham and Nimrod Veterinary Products in the UK as well as two Chinese partners – New Hope Liuhe in Chengdu and the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment.

英国诺丁汉大学和尼姆罗德兽医产品公司的动物健康专家以及两家中方合作伙伴——成都新希望六和公司及中国国家食品安全风险评估中心，将领导这项研究。

“Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem and it’s getting worse and worse. Some of these superbugs are resistant to everything, we don’t know how to treat them,” University of Nottingham veterinary professor Tania Dottorini told China Daily. “On farms, superbugs are not confined to animals, they spread to humans and to the environment, it’s an exponential spread. If we don't understand how to stop this, it’s going to be really bad.”

“抗生素耐药性是一个全球性问题，且愈演愈烈。有些超级细菌对一切药物免疫，我们不知该如何解决，”诺丁汉大学的兽医教授塔妮亚·多托里尼（Tania Dottorini）对《中国日报》说道，“在养殖场内，超级细菌并不局限在动物身上，也会被传播给人类和环境，是一场迅速扩散的传播。如果我们想不出办法停止这一切，情况会更加糟糕”

Around 700,000 deaths a year stem from antibiotic resistance, according to a report commissioned by the UK government. If left unchecked, drug resistance could lead to 10 million deaths a year by 2050, which is more than the number of people who now die from cancer annually.

英国政府发布的一项报告表示：每年约有70万人死于抗生素耐药性。如不加以控制，到2050年，抗生素耐药性每年将导致1000万人死亡，高于每年因癌症去世的人数。

Antibiotics work by disrupting function in certain parts of a bacterial cell. Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics through genetic mutations that alter those areas of the cell, meaning the medication can no longer target them.

抗生素通过破坏细菌细胞的某部分功能起到作用。但细菌可以通过改变这一细胞区域的基因突变对抗生素产生耐药性，这也意味着抗生素对其不再有效。

The more a strain of bacteria is exposed to an antibiotic, the more likely it is to become resistant. Large numbers of people and animals are given antibiotics when they don’t need them, so reducing unnecessary consumption is crucial in the fight against so-called superbugs.

细菌菌株接触抗生素的次数越多，该细菌产生耐药性的可能性就越大。很多人和动物都会在自身身体健康的情况下被注射/口服抗生素，所以，减少不必要的消耗对于解决所谓的超级细菌至关重要。

“When you have a large-scale data set, the human mind can’t cope with that, it’s too complex,” Dottorini said of machine learning. “We need something that is able to understand the relationship across a big amount of information.”

“人类大脑无法处理大规模的数据集，毕竟太复杂了，”多托里尼谈及机器学习时说道。“我们需要这样一个机器，它能够理清大量信息之间的关系。”

Dottorini said that, if successful, these methods should be transferable to other farm studies in China and abroad.

多托里尼说道，如果这一计划能够成功，这些方法将会被转移到中国和其他国家的养殖场进行研究。

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