Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?

譯者: I-Hsiang Lin 審譯者: Ching-Yuan Chen

Humans in the developed world

生活在已開發國家中的人們

spend more than 90 percent of their lives indoors,

超過百分之90的時間待在室內，

where they breathe in and come into contact

他們呼吸且接觸

with trillions of life forms invisible to the naked eye:

肉眼看不見的無數生物：

microorganisms.

微生物。

Buildings are complex ecosystems

建築物是複雜的生態系統，

that are an important source

也是人們取得微生物的重要來源，

of microbes that are good for us,

不論是好的，

and some that are bad for us.

還是不好的微生物。

What determines the types and distributions

什麼因素決定了室內微生物的

of microbes indoors?

種類和分布？

Buildings are colonized by airborne microbes

佔據在建築物內的空氣傳播微生物

that enter through windows

經由窗戶

and through mechanical ventilation systems.

和機械通風裝置進入室內。

And they are brought inside

也經由人類和其它生物

by humans and other creatures.

帶入室內。

The fate of microbes indoors

室內微生物的命運

depends on complex interactions

取決於

with humans,

其與人類的互動

and with the human-built environment.

和與人造環境的互動

And today, architects and biologists

現今，建築師和生物學家

are working together

一起合作

to explore smart building design

探索聰慧的建築設計

that will create

以創造

healthy buildings for us.

對人們健康的建築物。

We spend an extraordinary amount of time

我們花非常大量的時間

in buildings

待在建築物內，

that are extremely controlled environments,

建築物是被高度控制的環境，

like this building here --

像這座建築物--

environments that have mechanical ventilation systems

裝設有機械通風系統

that include filtering,

包括過濾，

heating and air conditioning.

暖氣和空氣調節設備。

Given the amount of time that we spend indoors,

考量到我們待在室內的時間，

it's important to understand

了解這如何影響我們的健康

how this affects our health.

是很重要的事。

At the Biology and the Built Environment Center,

在這座生物和人造環境中心裡，

we carried out a study in a hospital

我們進行一項醫院內的研究，

where we sampled air

我們取樣醫院裡的空氣，

and pulled the DNA

從空氣中的微生物

out of microbes in the air.

擷取DNA。

And we looked at three different types of rooms.

我們著眼於三種不同類型的房間。

We looked at rooms that were mechanically ventilated,

有機械通風設備的房間

which are the data points in the blue.

是圖表中的藍數據點。

We looked at rooms that were naturally ventilated,

我們研究自然通風的地方

where the hospital let us turn off the mechanical ventilation

是醫院允許我們關閉機械通風設備的房間

in a wing of the building

它們位於醫院的側翼

and pry open the windows

我們翹開的窗戶

that were no longer operable,

實際上早已不能使用，

but they made them operable for our study.

為了我們的研究，醫院恢復它們的功能。

And we also sampled the outdoor air.

我們也從戶外空氣中取樣。

If you look at the x-axis of this graph,

如果你看此表的X軸，

you'll see that what we commonly want to do --

可觀察到我們普通的作法--

which is keeping the outdoors out --

把戶外空氣排除在外--

we accomplished that with mechanical ventilation.

我們藉由機械通風達成此目的。

So if you look at the green data points,

如果你看表中的綠數據點，

which is air that's outside,

這是戶外的空氣，

you'll see that there's a large amount of microbial diversity,

你可看到有大量的微生物多樣性，

or variety of microbial types.

或者多樣化的微生物種類。

But if you look at the blue data points,

但如果你看藍數據點，

which is mechanically ventilated air,

它們代表機械通風的空氣，

it's not as diverse.

種類沒那麼多樣化。

But being less diverse

但是種類少

is not necessarily good for our health.

不一定對我們的健康有益處。

If you look at the y-axis of this graph,

如果你看表中的Y軸，

you'll see that, in the mechanically ventilated air,

你可看到，機械通風的空氣中，

you have a higher probability

你有較高的可能性

of encountering a potential pathogen,

會接觸到潛在的病原體，

or germ,

或病菌，

than if you're outdoors.

在戶外時，可能性反而較小

So to understand why this was the case,

為了瞭解其背後的原因，

we took our data

我們把這些資料

and put it into an ordination diagram,

排列在序列分布圖中，

which is a statistical map

形成一個統計地圖，

that tells you something

這個圖可告訴你

about how related the microbial communities are

在不同的樣本中

in the different samples.

微生物族群的關聯性。

The data points that are closer together

位置相近的點

have microbial communities that are more similar

帶有較類似的微生物族群，

than data points that are far apart.

位置距離較遠的點則反之

And the first things that you can see from this graph

可從此圖表中發現的第一件事是

is, if you look at the blue data points,

如果你看這些藍數據點

which are the mechanically ventilated air,

它們代表機械通風的空氣，

they're not simply a subset of the green data points,

他們不單純只是綠數據點的子集，

which are the outdoor air.

綠數據點代表戶外空氣。

What we've found is that mechanically ventilated air

我們所發現的是機械通風的空氣

looks like humans.

看似人類的。

It has microbes on it

漂浮其中的微生物

that are commonly associated with our skin

和我們的皮膚、嘴巴和唾液

and with our mouth, our spit.

有共通關連性。

And this is because

這是因為

we're all constantly shedding microbes.

我們全部的人不斷地散播微生物。

So all of you right now

現在你們全部的人

are sharing your microbes with one another.

正在彼此分享彼此的微生物。

And when you're outdoors,

當你們在戶外時，

that type of air has microbes

空氣中所帶的微生物

that are commonly associated with plant leaves and with dirt.

和植物葉子還有土攘有關連性。

Why does this matter?

這為什麼重要呢？

It matters because the health care industry

其重要性在於醫療保健產業

is the second most energy intensive industry

排名美國第二大

in the United States.

高耗能產業。

Hospitals use two and a half times

醫院所耗能源

the amount of energy as office buildings.

是辦公建築物的2.5倍。

And the model that we're working with

現今醫院奉行的

in hospitals,

典範，

and also with many, many different buildings,

同時也可見於很多不同建築之中，

is to keep the outdoors out.

是將戶外空氣排除在外。

And this model

而這個典範

may not necessarily be the best for our health.

不一定是對我們健康最有益處的。

And given the extraordinary amount

鑒於非常大量的

of nosocomial infections,

醫院感染，

or hospital-acquired infections,

或者經由醫院取得的感染，

this is a clue that it's a good time

這提醒我們，是時候

to reconsider our current practices.

重新考慮目前的常規是否合適。

So just as we manage national parks,

如同我們管理國家公園，

where we promote the growth of some species

當我們促進一些物種的成長時，

and we inhibit the growth of others,

我們也抑制其它物種的成長，

we're working towards thinking about buildings

我們正把生態系統的架構

using an ecosystem framework

應用到建築的思維裡，

where we can promote the kinds of microbes

提升我們想要移到室內的

that we want to have indoors.

某些微生物種類。

I've heard somebody say

我聽過人說

that you're as healthy as your gut.

你的健康取決於你的腸道健康。

And for this reason, many people eat probiotic yogurt

因此很多人吃益生菌優格

so they can promote a healthy gut flora.

就是為了促進健康的腸道菌叢。

And what we ultimately want to do

我們的終極目標

is to be able to use this concept

是應用此概念

to promote a healthy group

促進室內的

of microorganisms inside.

健康微生物群。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

(掌聲)