Časoris is an online newspaper aimed at children. Each week we’ll take an article and post it here as a Slovene-English dual text.
V iskanju cepiva za novi koronavirus in vse viruse, ki pridejo za njim
In search of a vaccine for the new coronavirus and all the viruses that come after it
Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner & G Translate
Kdaj bomo lahko spet šli v šolo, se igrali s prijatelji, obiskali dedka in babico?
When will we be able to go to school again, play with friends, visit grandparents?
To sprašujete otroci po vsem svetu. In politiki odgovarjajo: Ne vemo.
This is what children all over the world are asking. And politicians reply: We don’t know.
Veliko je odvisno od tega, kdaj bodo znanstveniki odkrili cepivo za novi koronavirus. Potem namreč ne bo več nevarnosti, da bi tisti, ki nam virus manj škodi, okužili naše stare starše, ki jih virus veliko bolj ogroža.
Much depends on when scientists discover a vaccine for the new coronavirus. Then there will be no danger that those who are less harmed by the virus will infect their grandparents, who are much more endangered by the virus.
Med znanstveniki, ki iščejo cepivo, je tudi Američan David Ho. Zaradi njegovih zaslug za razvoj koktejla cepiv za bolezen aids, ga je leta 1996 revija Time razglasila za osebnost leta.
Among the scientists looking for the vaccine is also an American, David Ho. Due to his acclaim for the development of a cocktail of AIDS vaccines, in 1996 Time magazine named him Person of the Year.
Ko je leta 2002 na Kitajskem izbruhnila epidemija sarsa, se je začel zanimati za družino koronavirusov.
When an outbreak of SARS broke out in China in 2002, he became interested in the coronavirus family.
Nekateri predstavniki družine koronavirusov povzročajo le blažji prehlad, drugi smrtonosne bolezni, na primer sars in mers.
Some members of the coronavirus family cause only a mild cold, others deadly diseases such as SARS and MERS.
Ho je koronaviruse raziskoval že ob izbruhu bolezni sars in mers. A bila sta tako kratka, da je zanimanje zanju kmalu pojenjalo in znanstveniki so opustili iskanje zdravila.
Ho has already been researching coronaviruses since the outbreaks of SARS and MERS. But these were so short that interest in them soon fell and scientists abandoned the search for a cure.
Od samega začetka Ho pozorno spremljal izbruh epidemije novega koronavirusa. Kmalu mu je prijatelj, ustanovitelj podjetja Alibaba Jack Ma, ponudil denar za razvoj cepiva proti novemu koronavirusu SARS-CoV-2.
From the very beginning, Ho closely monitored the outbreak of a new coronavirus epidemic. Soon, a friend, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, offered him money to develop a vaccine against the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
V laboratoriju na univerzi Columbia v New Yorku s sodelavci ne razmišlja le o cepivu za novi koronavirus, ampak o penicilinu za viruse: enem zdravilu (ali vsaj peščici njih) za vse bolezni.
In a lab at Columbia University in New York, he and colleagues are thinking not just about a vaccine for the new coronavirus, but about a penicillin for viruses: one drug (or at least a handful of them) for all diseases.
Strokovnjaki namreč ugotavljajo, da naše zdravje najbolj ogrožajo virusi. Za bakterije, glivice, parazite in prione smo namreč že razvili bolj ali manj učinkovita zdravila, ali pa nas manj ogrožajo.
Experts say that our health is most endangered by viruses. We have already developed more or less effective drugs for bacteria, fungi, parasites and prions, or they are less threatening to us.
Določeni virusi, predvsem virusi gripe in koronavirusi, pa lahko znova ogrozijo človeštvo. Brez trajne rešitve se bodo epidemije, kot je zdajšnja, ponovile, opozarja David Ho.
However, certain viruses, especially influenza viruses and coronaviruses, can once again endanger humanity. Without a lasting solution, epidemics like the current one will recur, David Ho warns.
Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, while all our dual texts can be found here.
